


The Kripke Conundrum

by nibbler747



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 03:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 51,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7996735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nibbler747/pseuds/nibbler747
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place after Sheldon returns from his train trip in Season 7. What if Barry Kripke and Amy become closer, as Amy grows increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in her and Sheldon's relationship. Will Amy go there? And how will Sheldon react to Amy growing closer to his nemisis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A few weeks had passed since Sheldon had arrived back in Pasadena after his train trip. Amy had gone with Leonard to pick him up in Arizona, but the reunion was not at all what she had pictured in her head. He had been robbed and lost all his belongings, which scared her half to death. When she saw him at the police station; other than being a bit flustered, he seemed himself. He was excited to go home, he was talking about trains with a childlike fascination, and giving vivid descriptions of all the stations he had visited. He was describing his trip like it was just some fun adventure, and not that he had run away from his life. That he was escaping all his problems…that he was escaping her. He did not understand the tremendous effect his leaving had on her. She had felt destroyed, mocked and abandoned. She had cried in her apartment alone for weeks on end. When he had told her in the car, that he didn’t want seem like a failure in front of her, she had felt elated. She was astonished that he cared so much about what she thought of him. But was that enough? She cared about Sheldon so much, she wanted more than anything to make this work. Maybe he had thought about things on his train trip. She should at least afford him the chance to explain, to show in actions that he cared. He didn’t say anything specifically to her in that regard, but he must have thought about their relationship. He must have… They went back to normal, except with an increase in the number of date nights, as to make up for the ones that were missed. Sheldon had asked her to join the gang for lunch tomorrow in the cafeteria at Caltech. She was happy to go. She was always happy to see Sheldon.

The first time that he had laid eyes on Amy Farrah Fowler was at lunchtime; she was in the cafeteria eating with Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj. So this was Cooper’s elusive girlfriend. She was not exactly what he had pictured. To be honest, he didn’t really HAVE a clear picture of the type of girl that would date Sheldon Cooper in his head. All he knew that that she was a neurobiologist, she was dating that freak Cooper, and the two of them had wild sex all the time.

He looked her up and down. Pin straight hair, glasses, curvy little figure, kind of dressed up like a librarian. She looked so straight-laced; he was surprised that she was so naughty in bed. Rockets? Barry chuckled to himself at the thought. He wondered if naughty librarian was one of the games that they played together. He had to admit, he started liking Sheldon a little bit more when he found out that he had a girlfriend. It made him a little less of a robot and a bit more human. The gang looked like they were in a heated debate at the table. It was time to have a little fun, and make Cooper squirm a little.

“Good afternoon gentlemen” Kripke smiled.  Sheldon looked over at him and the colour drained from his face. He looked tensely over at his girlfriend, who was smiling back at Barry Kripke. 

“You must be the famous Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler?” Barry said grinning. Sheldon started squirming around in his chair. 

“Famous? I’m hardly famous. You are?” Amy asked. 

“Barry Kripke. Dr. Barry Kripke. I work in string theory with your lover boy here.” 

Amy looked at him curiously. So this was Barry Kripke… Sheldon’s nemesis. He was on Sheldon’s famous enemy list. He seemed friendly enough, although he had a weird speech impediment. This was the man that Sheldon was worried that his work superior to his. Interesting…he must be brilliant. He was not quite what she expected. He seemed quite friendly and out-going. 

“Barry, don’t you have other people to bother? We are having an intelligent discussion at this table, something that you would know nothing about.” Sheldon huffed. 

“Dude, we were talking about why they never make orange jello in the cafeteria.” Raj muttered. 

Sheldon shot Raj a dirty look and then looked over at Kripke nervously. He wanted to get him away from Amy, in case he decided to spill the beans about their sex life conversation. Kripke was eyeing Amy up and down with a funny grin on his face. 

“Don’t worry Cooper, I won’t take any more time from your precious jello conversation. See you guys later. And I hope to meet you again soon Dr. Fowler. Cooper, nice to meet your reason for distraction” Barry grinned.  Amy looked at him puzzled. Sheldon started coughing loudly, choking on his jello. Barry laughed, and walked out of the cafeteria. 

“He seems nice” Amy said. 

“Nice!? Nice? He’s anything but nice. He humiliated me on NPR! Amy, you know he’s on my enemies list. I think his sole purpose of being at Caltech is to torture me.” 

“I thought that was Leslie’s purpose in life.” Leonard chuckled. The rest of the table started laughing, and they all began talking with each other. Sheldon glanced at Amy. He needed to keep her away from Kripke, he couldn’t have her know about the conversation that they had about her….and her bathing suit parts. 

* * *

 

After their initial meeting, Barry seemed to run in Amy Farrah Fowler all over the place. He ran into her a number of times in the physics building, when she was coming to meet Sheldon. He also saw her at the main library on campus, looking up some old research papers. Barry was growing more and more curious about her. What kind of woman would date that nutcase Cooper? 

Barry sat at his desk and typed her name into Google. The first ten hits were all her. She graduated with honours from Harvard University. A number of her research papers popped up, she had even been published in Neuron Magazine. So she was brilliant, he already knew that. He wanted to find the more interesting stuff about her. Blogs, forums….what was she in to? He needed to figure out her handle and go from there. Well he wasn’t a genius for nothing. He started with the UCLA and Caltech Biology forums to see if she left any comments. Bingo, there were a few signed affowler. He googled that, but other people were coming up. It was too generic. He kept digging in various forums and her Facebook and LinkedIn to see what was there. He finally came across a post signed by her with the handle rickyrocksciggies that she wrote to her friend in the UCLA Biology department.

Jackpot. 

It was like he found the secret life of Amy Farrah Fowler. He found a blog she had written, where she had detailed her hobbies. Writing, harp playing, medieval poetry, cooking, quilting…human dissection, self-surgery? What the frig? Well she was definitely a different type of chick. The writing on her blog was almost similar to her journal publications - completely clinical and matter of fact. Maybe she was a robot like Cooper?

Kripke noticed one more link on his search of rickyrocksciggies, one for a fanfiction for Little House on the Prairie. He clicked on it, and his eyes went wide. He sat and read the whole story, completely engrossed. That was amazing…and hot! That was the real Amy. The writing was passionate and soft. She had written about herself and Cooper her time traveling physicist. The time travel part was completely off, but the sex scenes were incredible. Oh boy…that Cooper sure was a lucky bastard. 

Just then a reminder for a meeting popped up on his computer. What’s your Personality Colour – and How to make it Successful for You!. Kripke chuckled, and gathered his things. He already knew his personality colour. He was a physicist. It was blue. This whole damn building was full of blue people. That was not the reason he was attending this seminar. He knew who liked to go to these types of meetings. Chicks. Chicks from commerce, chicks from medicine, chicks from arts….chicks galore. It would be heaven. Barry gathered his things and quickly left his office. 

* * *

 

Amy was sitting in the lecture hall reading over the agenda for today’s seminar What’s your Personality Colour. Personally, she thought it was a bunch of hogwash. You can’t fit people into four neat colour categories and they were all going to behave a certain way. She asked Sheldon to attend with her, so that they could pick apart the inaccuracies of the test together for fun. He just laughed at her and told her his time was better spent unravelling the mysteries of the universe. Oh well, she still wanted to attend, merely to find out what personality colour she was. As a scientist, she was fairly certain it was blue. She did have a lot of creative hobbies though, which might put her towards the yellow colour. She also like leading her research team, which may make her a red personality colour. It would be interesting to take the test. 

“Amy?”

Amy turned around and saw Barry Kripke smiling at her. “Barry!” she said taken aback. 

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” he asked. “Oh, not at all. Please sit down.” Amy patted the seat next to her . “ I’m kind of surprised to see you here, I didn’t know this was the type of lecture you would be interested in…well given the other guys lack of interest in it.” 

“Oh, I already know my personality colour. I just come for the –ah goodies.“ Barry said as he watched a leggy blonde enter the room. 

“Oh I see” Amy laughed as she eyed the blonde near the door. “Is that what they are calling “goodies” these days..” 

“I’m here in the interest of science Amy. I always want to learn how to relate better to my fellow colleagues.” Barry whispered to her. 

“I bet.” Amy chuckled. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Barry enquired. 

“Oh, I’ve heard your reputation for being a bit of a ….well lothario” 

“A Lothario!? Who told you that? Cooper?” 

“Well Howard and Raj actually” Amy replied. 

“Oh those two should talk. They were quite a pair before when Howard was single. I have two words for them. Sailor Moon.” 

“What?” Amy said puzzled. 

“Nevermind…nothing important.” Barry replied quietly. He looked over at Amy. He couldn’t stop thinking about her story. He thought about all the things that she did to Cooper in the barn. Those words came from Amy’s own hand. She had quite the vivid imagination. A hot vivid imagination. All the stories that Sheldon had told him must be true, for her to write such tantalizing stuff. He looked over at Amy. She looked cute in her button down cardigan. He would have never guessed she had such a wild side, from his first impression. 

“You smell really nice” Barry whispered over to her. 

“What?” Amy replied. 

“You smell nice. What is that?” Barry repeated. 

“Well. My guess is that is a mixture of my shampoo and formaldehyde from my lab. I was just dissecting a brain earlier. Fun fact, did you know a lot shampoos contain formaldehyde in them?” 

Barry looked over at Amy and smiled. This chick was full on strange….and he loved it. “I did know that actually. So what personality colour do you think you are….I think I’ve got you pegged.” 

“Well I was debating between blue, yellow and red. My guess is predominately blue, as a scientist.” Amy replied. 

Barry leaned over to her and whispered. “You got it wrong. You’re a red. I know you like to be in control.” 

“What?” Amy looked at him surprised. 

“Shhh….the lecture is starting.” Barry grinned at her. 

The lights dimmed in the lecture hall, and the presentation began. Amy looked over at Barry. What was he talking about, how she liked to be in control? How would he know that? Barry Kripke was an interesting character. More interesting than the guys and Sheldon had let on…. 

 

** A/N: I am posted this completed story here also.   I always loved Kripke’s character. Nobody can put Sheldon in a twist like he does. This story is set prior to all the Sheldon/Amy progress in Season 8, so things are still a bit rocky between them. If it struck a chord with you, I’d love it if you review. Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sheldon had thought a lot about where he wanted his career to go on his train trip. He knew that he wanted to begin Dark Matter research, but the university wanted him to stay in String Theory. He had conceded to continue working the majority of his time on string theory, but Gablehauser had given him permission to use 25% of his time on Dark Matter. That was with the allowance that if he made any interesting breakthroughs, that he could devote more of his time to that area.

It seemed like a reasonable compromise. He was sure that he would be able publish some fascinating papers in dark matter once he got to spend some focused time on it. He was Dr. Sheldon Cooper after all. His phone started buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was a Facebook notification from Amy. He opened his laptop and quickly checked Facebook to see what Amy had posted.

It was an article stating "I'm Red-Blue Personality". Oh, this must be from that drivel personality typing seminar she attended yesterday. She wanted him to go with her, but he couldn't be bothered to waste his time with such nonsense. He was surprised that Amy still went, she seemed to think that the test was complete hokum also. Well enough of that, work awaits. Sheldon turned to his white board and started working on his latest derivation.

"Yo Cooper"

Barry Kripke was standing at his door with a big grin on his face.

"What is it Kripke? Did you get lost on the way to your office again? I know menial tasks must be difficult for simpletons like you."

Barry walked into his office and leaned against his desk. "Oh whatever Cooper, I came to talk to you, cause it seems like we will be working with each other for a bit longer. So the university wouldn't let its wonder boy go over to dark matter full time huh?"

"It's not a matter of letting me. It would be a crime to deny the world of my intellect in the field of string theory. I am just being altruistic and affording my knowledge to both areas of study. It's the kind of person I am." Sheldon smirked.

"Riiiight….I just hope that you'll be a little more focused this time around when we work together. Although, I think I better understand the reason for your distraction. That Amy of yours is quite something. Of course, I don't need to tell you that." Barry stated.

Sheldon frowned and turned back to his board. "You don't need to tell me anything Kripke." He continued writing equations on his whiteboard.

Barry sat down at Sheldon desk and spun around on the chair. He saw that Facebook was open on Sheldon's computer to Amy's profile page. She had just posted about the personality colour seminar they had taken yesterday. Barry quickly clicked on the photos link, and the page flooded with pictures of Amy, Sheldon and their friends.

"You know I was at that Personality Colour seminar yesterday, I saw your lady there." Barry said, while clicking through photos on Sheldon's computer.

"Really Barry? You attended that drivel also? I don't know why you and Amy waste your time on such nonsense." Sheldon said while writing on his board.

"Oh it was very informative." Barry replied as he continued clicking through photos. He came across a picture of Penny, Bernadette and Amy dressed up as Disney Princesses. God, the three of them looked sexy! It was beyond him how Hofstadter and Wolowitz hooked up with such hotties. And Cooper for that matter? That was a true mystery.

He looked closer at Amy dressed up as Snow White. She looked absolutely gorgeous, without her glasses, her makeup all done…ruby red lips. He couldn't stop staring at the photo.

"So Cooper, do you and Amy do any cosplay?" Kripke enquired while staring at the photo.

"Cosplay? Well I have quite a few costumes, Amy not so many. She did dress up as Nurse Chapel from Star Trek once. I would have preferred Uhura, but she is not familiar with the history of the show. Wait why?" Sheldon turned around from the board and saw that Kripke was on his computer.

"Excuse me! Nobody touches my stuff!" Sheldon huffed as he quickly closed the laptop. "Who said you could go on my computer?"

"Sorry…sorry! I was just surfing. Anyways it's cool to know that you and Amy are so kinky. Very hot." Kripke grinned.

"Kinky?" Sheldon looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh you know…Nurse Chapel? That's pretty hot."

"Oh that. Amy was simply conducting an experiment to try to systematically accelerate my feelings for her." Sheldon said, as he locked his laptop in his desk drawer.

"Why would she have to do that?" Kripke asked puzzled.

Sheldon stared at Kripke, annoyed to be having this conversation. "OK Kripke, I think you've wasted enough of my time today. The universe is full of questions, just waiting for Dr. Sheldon Cooper to answer them. Be off!"

"Fine..fine. I'll go. Just know that I'll be expecting better quality work from you this time around. No getting distracted by playing the Prince."

Kripke saw Sheldon's puzzled face as he walked out the door. He pulled out his phone and opened his Facebook app. He went to add friends, and searched for Amy Farrah Fowler. There…request sent. Almost instantly he got a notification: _friend request accepted._ Barry smiled. He was looking forward to seeing that Snow White picture again, and hopefully when he hunted through all her photos…Nurse Chapel.

* * *

 

Amy was sitting in her lab writing of the results of her latest experiment when her phone buzzed. She grabbed it thinking it would be Sheldon. She looked and it was a friend request from Facebook. She opened the app, and saw that Barry Kripke wanted to be friends with her. She pondered for a moment whether she should accept the friend request. Sheldon did seems to hate Barry quite a bit. Well, Sheldon seemed to hate quite a few people irrationally, she thought. He was quite nice to chat with at the seminar yesterday. She hit the accept friend button.

She turned back to the computer when her Facebook instant messenger popped up. It was Barry.

Barry: "Hey Red…How are you today?"

Amy: "Red! Hilarious…I still don't know how you knew that I would get red as my dominant personality colour."

Barry: "Well, you're boyfriend isn't the only genius around here."

Amy: "Are you talking about me being a genius then? ;-) "

Barry: "Touché Amy…Touché"

Barry: "So what are you working on?"

Amy: "Are you seriously interested?"

Barry: "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Amy: "Well I am mapping different emotion centres on the brain. Right now I am trying to stimulate the pleasure centre of a starfish"

Barry: "So you are trying to turn a starfish on? Pretty sexy work there Fowler."

Amy: "Biology is sexy. It's why I went into this field."

Barry grinned at his computer. Oh he didn't doubt that for a minute. That was one thing he learned for sure today, Amy Farrah Fowler was sexy. He was trying to picture her in that hot little Star Trek dress right now.

Amy: "So what are you working on?"

Barry: "Well I'm looking into light cone quantization right now, but am kind of hitting a dead end."

Amy: "You know, I have a few ideas regarding neural connectivity that might have some applications to string theory, if you are interested."

Barry: "Of course I'm interested. But don't you want to go over that with Cooper instead of me? You know how he gets."

Amy: "Well I tried, but he wasn't interested. He didn't seem to think biologists could contribute much."

Barry: "Well his loss. I would love to hear your idea. We could discuss it over coffee sometime?".

Amy: "Sounds good. Listen, I've got to run. I think my starfish is getting cranky."

Barry: "No problem. I'll set up coffee for next week sometime?"

Amy: "Sounds good. Take care."

Barry: "You too Red."

Barry smiled as he looked at his computer. This Amy Farrah Fowler sure was an interesting lady. He navigated back to her Facebook page. Her profile picture was of her sitting in her lab with her lab coat on and a big smile on her face. It must be very similar to how she must look at this very moment.

He could see why Sheldon started dating her. Smart as a whip…friendly…beautiful. The better question would be, why is she going out with that obnoxious idiot Cooper? Why was she running experiments to try to increase his affections for her? That was totally bizarre considering all the sex they were having. Who knows….that Cooper is one odd duck.

Well one thing was for sure, he was going to enjoy getting to know one Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler better next week.

**A/N: I absolutely love writing Kripke! He's such a fun character. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Looks like Amy and Kripke are starting to get to know each other a bit better… But things are still good with Sheldon and Amy right? Or are they?**


	3. Chapter 3

It was date night.  Amy had been looking forward to this day all week.  She wanted to spend some time alone with Sheldon, without the whole gang there with them.  It was fun seeing the gang, but 4A felt like grand central station sometimes, with various permutations of the group always there.   It would be nice to have some uninterrupted time alone with Sheldon.  They both seemed more relaxed when everyone else was not around.  They could exchange their ideas freely without eye rolls or puzzled looks.  They understood each other, in a way that no one else did.

They weren’t planning on going out tonight.  Sheldon was making dinner at his apartment, and she was going to join him for a quiet evening in.  It sounded like heaven after the crazy week that she had at work.    Amy found the prettiest dress that she had in her closet and put it on.  She was sure that Sheldon would love it.

Amy gazed at the photo she had of him on her bedside table as she brushed her hair.  He was so smart, funny and handsome.  She really wished that they could progress a little more in their physical relationship.  She longed to lightly stroke his face and give him a gentle kiss on the lips.  She hoped that he wouldn’t back away, but would reciprocate the kiss with her.  She could just imagine it now.  After dinner, them sitting on the couch….talking, laughing.  Sheldon would nervously put his arm around her shoulders.  She would lean in closer to him.  He would slowly lean down, and softly place a tentative kiss on her lips.  She would gently kiss him back. 

She gazed at the photo.  “Sheldon…all Amy needs is one little kiss.” She kissed her finger and lightly pressed it on Sheldon’s lips on the photo.  She smiled at this photo.  She hoped tonight would be magic.

* * *

 

Amy arrived promptly at Sheldon’s apartment at seven as she always did for their date night.   Amy looked over at Sheldon; he looked so handsome in his button down shirt and khaki pants.  It was nice that he had made the effort to look nice for date night also.  She hung up her coat and walked over to Sheldon.  She tried to gently embrace him in a hug, but he backed away.

“Amy, you know affection is shown at the END of the date not the beginning.  You can get your five second hug then.  Can’t keep your hands off the old Cooper can you?” Sheldon teased.

Amy sighed, this was not starting well.  She knew that the impromptu hug was probably not going to go over.  Sheldon hated surprises.  She walked over to the kitchen island and looked at all the food.  “Sheldon, this meal looks amazing.  Thank-you so much for cooking.”

“Well, as much as I am not overly fond of cooking, I admit it is one of the many areas that I excel in.” Sheldon said as he dug into his meal.

“So how did your day go?” Amy enquired.

“Well, I was doing some thinking on supersymmetry.” Sheldon began.

“You know Sheldon, I tried mentioning this to you the other day.  I was thinking about how a cellular automata approach –“

“Oh Amy, not this again. Your cute math approach might work in the biology world, but the complicated math required for physics, should be left to the heavy hitters.”

“Excuse me!  You didn’t even listen to what I was going to say.  I think –“

“-I don’t understand.  I checked my calendar, and your next cycle isn’t due for another 12 days.  I’m not sure why you are being so difficult right now.” Sheldon muttered.

“I’m not being difficult!  You are being dismissive and you are not even hearing me out.”

“Amy…Relationship Agreement, Section 5.2  in reference to Date Night. Neither party is allowed to be grumpy or instigate fights during date night.”

“I am not being grumpy or trying to instigate a fight.  You know what…never mind.  Let’s change to the topic to your train trip.”

“Now you’re talking!  Trains are always one of my favourite topics of conversation.  So what would you like to know about Amy?  Steam Engines?   Diesels?  The Cow Exploder?“ Sheldon grinned.

“I want to know what you thought about in regards to us during your train trip.” Amy stated.

“Us? What are you talking about?”

“Well when you ran away, you said you needed to think about work, Leonard and Penny moving on, our relationship…the comic book store burning down.  I want to know what your thinking was in terms of our relationship.”

“Good Lord, this is turning out to be a fun evening” Sheldon sighed.  “First of all, I did not run away.  I needed some time to myself to think clearly.  In regards to us, I am happy to stay on our current trajectory.  I just was not ready to move in together.  Amy, I thought all of this was clear.  I don’t know why we have to rehash this all right now.”

“Rehash?  We never hashed in the first place!” Amy sputtered.

“Hashed in the first place?  Amy, that was a really awkward sentence.  Are you sure you weren’t drinking before you came over here?”

“Argh” Amy moaned as she put her head in her hands.  “Yes I’m sure.  Sheldon, you really upset me when you left without even telling me.  I had no idea what was going on.  I feel like you and I are not on the same page about what we want for the future sometimes.”

“Geez…is everything about coitus with you?” Sheldon spat out.

“Coitus?  This has nothing to do with coitus.  If everything was to do with coitus, do you think I’d still be with you four years in, with only an angry kiss on the train between us?”.  Amy set down her fork.  “I want to know if you missed me.  I want to know if you thought of me when you were away…”

“Of course I missed you Amy.  You are my girlfriend.  You wouldn’t be my girlfriend, if I didn’t care about you.” Sheldon said quietly.  “I just wish you wouldn’t push me so much sometimes…All you do is push and push.”

“Push you?  You think I’m pushing you?” Amy said with disbelief.  She shook her head.  “You know what, maybe I am pushing you.   I don’t want to be stuck in a homeostatic state my whole life.  I want to be able to freely hug you, to kiss you, to give and receive affection.  I think after four years, that is perfectly reasonable.  More than reasonable actually…”

Amy got up from the table and put her napkin down.  “I lost my appetite.  I think I’m going to head home now.”

“But Amy, you didn’t even finish your meal” Sheldon protested. 

“I think I really just need to go home.  I need some time alone to think clearly.”

Sheldon gulped at his words being thrown back at him.  “Well let me give you our end of date kiss.”

Amy put her hand up against his mouth. “That’s ok, we can forgo that tonight.  Don’t worry, I won’t make you add that one on to our next date night.  Good night Sheldon.”

“Good night Amy”.  Sheldon looked at her curiously as she walked out the door.

* * *

 

Date night had gone horribly wrong.  Everything that she had hoped would happen did not.  Sheldon had been dismissive and condescending.  He didn’t seem to think about their relationship at all, or at least he was not willing to talk about it in any capacity.  But was she being fair?  Was she picking a fight with him from the moment they sat down for dinner?   Perhaps she had been.  She just had so many emotions bottled up, she was having trouble expressing them to him in a way that was productive. 

She needed to talk to Sheldon.  She didn’t like feeling angry like this, and she wanted them to talk things through rationally.  She knew that work was probably not the most appropriate place, but she was hoping they could at least have a short talk and clear the air a little.  She looked at her watch, it was lunchtime.  He was probably in the cafeteria in the Physics Building.  She headed that way.

She entered the cafeteria and saw Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard sitting at their usual table.  They did not see her come in. She started walking towards the table, but was blocked by a group of grad students milling around a table in front of them.  She was waiting for them to get by when she caught a bit of the guys conversation.

“-Speaking of which, according to a recent study out of Oxford University, when someone takes on a new romantic partner, that person loses one or two close friends.” Sheldon stated.

“Since when do you read social science?” Howard asked.

“I go to the bathroom like everyone else” Sheldon replied.

“Why would I lose friends just because I started dating someone?” Raj asked.

“Yeah, you didn’t lose anyone when you met Amy.” Leonard stated.

“Yeah, well, no, this study refers to romantic partners.  Not the way I would categorize the two of us.” Sheldon said in a matter of fact fashion.

Amy gasped quietly and moved behind the group of students.  She felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.

“You guys kiss and hold hands” Raj said.

“I’ve seen them do it.  It’s not romantic.” Leonard laughed.

Tears started burning Amy’s eyes.  Wow, her own boyfriend didn’t even think of her as a romantic partner, and their friends thought so too.  She needed to get out of there.  It was too much.  She discretely made her way to the exit.  She stood by the door with tears forming in her eyes and gazed at Sheldon laughing at the table with his friends.

“I thought you thought more of us Sheldon” she whispered to herself as she walked out the door.

* * *

 

Barry Kripke was whistling as he walked down to the café in the Biology building.  He picked this café because it would be closer for Amy to get there, and they had the best desserts on campus.  When he arrived there, he was surprised to see Amy already there.  She was sitting at a table by the window, staring out at the rain drizzling against the window.  She had a very sad look on her face.

“Amy?  I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.” Barry glanced at his watch.

“No I’m early.  I just couldn’t concentrate in my lab, so I thought I would come down here.”

Barry looked at Amy.  She looked positively somber, and her eyes were tinged a bit red, like she had been crying.

“Amy are you ok?” Barry said quietly, as he pulled up a chair across from her.

“Sorry…yes…yes.  It’s just been one of those days I guess.” Amy said softly.  She kept looking out the window, not making eye contact with Barry.

“You can tell me what’s wrong.  Was it that idiot Cooper?  I have a hundred and one ways to make him squirm, just say the word.”

Amy smiled briefly at the thought.  “No..no.  It’s nothing.  Let’s just talk about work.  Work always makes me feel better.”

“If you’re sure…” Barry said slowly.  He was worried about Amy.  She looked positively upset, but it was clear that she was in no mood to talk about it.

Amy launched into speaking about cellular automata modeling in neural networks.  She detailed the mathematical modeling she was contemplating in her latest experiments.  Barry then told her about the work he was doing in light cone quantization, and the mathematical modeling that he was considering.  Soon they were talking about everything from quarks, bosons, fermions, supersymmetry, neurons and synapses.   Barry kept asking more and more questions, and they were soon deep in conversation.  The hours flew by.  He was explaining the finer physics details; she was explaining the biological ones.  It became a total meld of the physics and biology worlds, tied together with a mathematics bow.

“Wow Amy, this is a really incredible idea you have.  It’s just amazing.” Barry gleamed.

“Well it’s not all me.  I just explained my thinking on the connectivity, how it related to light cone quantization was all you.”

“Yeah, but I would have never gotten to that point without this discussion.  You brought up points that I would have never even dreamed about.  Incredible.  No wonder you are so famous in the Biology world.”

“Well math is my bitch,” Amy laughed.  Barry started snickering at her across the table.

Amy smiled.  It was nice that he had truly listened to her ideas and took them seriously.   Barry Kripke was a lot different than how he was described to her by the gang.  They had described him as a total letch.   They detailed him as a subpar annoying physicist, who was more interested in chasing broads than advancing science.  She knew before even talking to him, that the subpar description had to be false.  He worked at Caltech after all, and Sheldon had been upset earlier that year that his work was leaps and bounds ahead of his.  Sheldon was brilliant, so a physicist whose work was better than his?  Obviously he must be brilliant also.

As for the womanizer part?  Well, perhaps.  He could be…she didn’t really know him that well.  Most physicists she had met tended to be on the quieter introverted side.  Barry seemed to be quite a bit more outgoing that the others she had met.  All types of people could be attracted to this field, it wasn’t fair to pigeon hole everyone into one personality type.  That was one learning she took away from last weeks seminar.

Barry gazed at Amy.  She looked quite a bit happier than she had earlier.  Her eyes sparkled when she spoke about science.  He still wondered why Cooper didn’t take advantage of that incredible idea.  He was typically not one to share on good science.

“So Amy, why didn’t Cooper think this was a good idea?  I think it’s really ground breaking, I’m surprised he wasn’t all over it.”

“Well, he’d need to listen to the idea first to make that judgement call.  A lowly biologist couldn’t come up with something that would contribute to his field.” Amy said sourly.

Well he had his answer right there.  Cooper was being an idiot, as per usual, and pissed off Amy.  Well he wasn’t going to lose that idea, it was fantastic.  He was surprised that Sheldon had been so arrogant though, that he wouldn’t listen to his own brilliant girlfriend.  PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard….her thoughts weren’t going to be some school kids idea.  Barry wanted to know more about Amy.

“So what got you interested in Biology?”

She smiled genuinely at Barry.  “You are going to laugh when you hear this.  Well my mother was always extremely uptight about how ladies should behave.  She was forever going on how doing this or that would make people think I was a whore or unladylike.  If I wore certain clothes, people would think I’m a loose woman.  If I joined certain groups, people would think I’m easy.  I heard the word “whore” mentioned so many times growing up, but I never truly understood what it meant.  So I went to the library and grabbed a biology book to understand exactly what whores did!  That got me initially reading the biology book, but I did really fall in love with the subject when I read the whole text.  I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Barry laughed and smiled at her.  She was so funny and interesting.  He had never quite met a girl like her before.  He had to admit, he hadn’t spent a lot of time looking for a quality girl.  He was more interested in seeing who he could hook up with the easiest.  One of the “whores” that Amy’s mother feared.  Amy was nothing like those girls though.  She was easily the smartest woman he’d ever spoken with, but she was also so easy to talk to, and she was very beautiful in a non-showy way.  He looked at her eyes. They were a dark deep green colour that was so rare.

“Your eyes are an incredible shade of green Amy.  Did you know that it’s the rarest eye colour in the world?” Barry said softly.

“Only 2% of the world right?” Amy said.

“That’s right.  They are really beautiful.”

Amy blushed, and tucked her hair behind her ear.  “Well enough about me, what’s your story Barry Kripke?  I have a feeling that there is a lot more to you than I’ve been told.”

“Oh I don’t have that interesting of a story.  Grew up on the east coast.  I had a bit of a rough time when I was younger because of my speech problem and the fact that I was about a billion times smarter than the other kids.  My mom ran off when I was a kid with some boyfriend of hers.  I never really heard from her since.  My dad raised me with about six different step-moms.   I didn’t really like being home much with the “moms” and their kids so I spent a lot of time at school or in the library.  I always loved physics and math.  It was like I was playing a game that nobody else understood, but I did.  Did my undergrad at Columbia, did my PhD at MIT.  I decided to move to California, cause that’s where all the hot chicks are…and landed a sweet position at Caltech.  I guess that’s me in a nutshell.”

“I see…so you moved all the way to California for the hot chicks?” Amy teased.

“Where else am I going to meet beautiful green eyed women that can school me in math?” Barry said softly as he gazed at Amy. 

Amy’s face flushed red, and then she gazed down at her watch.  It was seven at night.  Had she really spent the last five hours talking with Kripke.  “Oh my goodness, it’s late, I really need to head home” she said flustered.

“I guess you are right.  Let me walk you to your car though.  It’s quite dark out now.”

“Alright.  Thank-you Barry.” Amy said quietly.

They gathered their things and left the darkened Biology building.  Barry had been out with lots of women,  but this was the most enjoyable afternoon he could remember spending in a long long time.

**A/N:  It looks like Barry is starting to fall for our dear Amy.  Can Sheldon and Amy patch things up, or do you think things might get worse between them?  Will Barry make a play?  Stay tuned…**


	4. Chapter 4

It was Wednesday night, and the gang was over to eat Chinese and play some video games.  Sheldon glanced around the room, everyone was there, except Bernadette.   Amy was there, but she had been quite non-communicative this week.  Typically they saw each other several times a week, either lunches at work, or she would pop by his office, and he to hers.  This week her emails were quite short and to the point, saying that she was quite busy at work and didn’t have time to meet.  He knew that she was upset about something, but he was a bit puzzled as to what.  Well, she came tonight, so that must be a good sign.  He sat down in his spot, and glanced over beside him, expecting Amy to sit next to him.  She went to the big chair, and squeezed in beside Penny who was texting on her phone.  Sheldon frowned.

Amy glanced over at Sheldon.  She was having a lot of trouble dealing with what she had overhead in the cafeteria.  Sheldon didn’t see her as a romantic partner?  Why did he ask her to be his girlfriend then?  Was it simply a possessive move to keep her from dating someone else, and not because he had feelings for her?  Why did they even kiss at the end of their dates?  She had thought he had enjoyed it, like she did.  Maybe she was wrong.  Perhaps she was wrong about a lot of things.

She glanced back over at Sheldon, who was happily eating his Chinese food.  Everything about him was annoying her right now.  How he spoke, how he was chewing his food, the way he sipped his drink….everything.  Ugh…she knew she was just mad, she needed to focus on something else.  She glanced over at Penny who was texting some friends at work on her phone.  Bernie had not yet arrived from work.  She was feeling quite bored.

Suddenly her phone vibrated in her pocket.  She pulled it out and looked at it.  It was a text from Barry Kripke.  She smiled and opened her text program.

Barry:  Hey Bio Whore…are you there?

Amy started laughing.  Sheldon gave her a questioning look, but she looked back down at her phone.  She quickly texted him back.

Amy:  Bio Whore!  Lol, If you call me that, my mother won’t let me talk to you anymore.

Barry:  Well we wouldn’t want that.  What are you up to?

Amy:  Watching the guys play some first person shooter game.  Bored out of my skull.

Barry:  You’re not playing also?  It’s a good way to take out aggression.  If Cooper pisses you off, just shoot him.

Amy:  Very tempting idea…

Barry: Well the reason I’m texting is that I finished the paper on Light Cone Quantization with the idea I got from you.  I was wondering you’d like to read it?

Amy:  I’d love to read it.  Send it my way.

Barry:  Well I’m still tweaking it a bit right now.  Why don’t you come by my office tomorrow morning?  I’ll give you your own copy.  My office is 118, down the hall from Cooper’s.

Amy:  Sounds good.  Does 10 am work?

Barry: Yup, that’s perfect.

Amy stared at Sheldon who was happily playing video games wearing his Superman t-shirt.  She felt overcome with a wave of annoyance when she looked at him.  How could he sit there all smug, like everything was perfect?  When she had told him she was upset, he didn’t even really care.  He didn’t even bother to see her point of view.  She grabbed the phone and opened her text to Barry.

Amy:  You’ve called me Red and BioWhore now…  I think it’s only fair that I give you a nickname.

Barry:  Oh really?  Well I’m partial to “Sexy Boy” or “The Brad Pitt of Physics” if you need ideas.

Amy burst out laughing.  The guys and Penny looked over at her.  “Sorry, sorry…I just read something funny”.  Penny looked at her curiously…she could see that she was texting someone.  She leaned over to try to see who Amy was texting, but Amy was shielding the phone away from her.  She started typing away.

Amy:  Well I wanted to incorporate your name into it, so I think I like “Kripkenite”

Barry:  Kripkenite?

Amy: You know like Kryptonite.

Barry:  I guess it’s cute.  I still like my suggestions, but we can go with Kripkenite.  I like being the one substance that can cripple Superman.

“Who are you texting” Penny whispered.

Amy slipped her phone back in her pocket.  “Oh its just a colleague from work…well Sheldon’s work.  You know Barry Kripke?” Amy whispered back.

“Ewwhh!  Amy!  That guy is such a creep.  Why are you talking with him?”

“He’s not a creep…he just might come off that way if you don’t know him well.  He’s actually quite nice.”

“Does Sheldon know that you two are friends?  He hates that guy.” Penny whispered.

“Sheldon doesn’t dictate who I can or cannot be friends with.” Amy said tensely.  “Besides, we are just friends, nothing more.”

Penny laughed.  “Of course, I know that.  I’ve never met anyone more devoted to their boyfriend than you.”  Penny went back to texting her friends on the phone. 

Amy felt a twinge of pain run through her body.  She was devoted to Sheldon, but right now she was not happy.  Was Sheldon devoted to her like she is to him?  She sighed.  She felt overcome with the feeling, that he just didn’t really care all that much.  She had just become part of his routine, like Chinese takeout and vintage video game night.  Date night was just one of those things he did because he was now comfortable with it.   She wanted to feel important…she wanted to feel special.   She pulled the phone back out of her pocket.

Amy:  Goodnight Kypkenite.

Her phone buzzed right away.

Barry:  Goodnight BioWhore.  Take it easy on Cooper tonight.  I need his brain functioning properly tomorrow.

Amy stared at her phone confused.  What was that about??

 

* * *

 

Amy walked down the hall in the Physics Building at Caltech towards Barry Kripke’s office.  It felt strange to be in the building and not to be going to Sheldon’s office.  But, Barry had kindly offered for her to visit his office, and she was super interested in reading the paper.  She stopped in front of room 118….this must be it.  She could hear music softly playing in the background.  She knocked on his door.

“Come in” Barry’s voice called.

Amy walked into his office, and her eyes went wide.  Although Barry’s office was almost the exact same size and shape as Sheldon’s office, it could not be more different.  She felt like she was in sensory overload looking around.  The walls were covered in posters and pictures.  The posters were mainly science related, with pictures taken of the universe and various Hubble images; there were photos cut out from calendars of beautiful space photography.  There were also a ton of framed photos of Barry with various groups of people littered around the room.

“Hey Amy, come on in.  I’m just finishing up this email, I’ll be right with you.” Barry said.

“Oh no problem, I’ll just look around” Amy said as she walked around his office.

Amy found the room fascinating.  Sheldon’s office was so organized and neat.  It had a serene calmness to it.  This office was the complete opposite.  It wasn’t messy, but it was completely busy.  She continued walking around looking at things.  There was a small robot that looked like it had a razor claw on it.  There were three whiteboards full of equations.  A stereo, that was softly playing Janet Jackson of all things.  On the side of his filing cabinet, he had some movie stars pictures from magazines taped up.  One was of Megan Fox, the other of Danica McKellar.

Amy started snickering at the magazine cut outs.  Barry looked up at her and smiled.

“What are you laughing at Fowler?  Those are my dream girlfriends.”

“And why these two in particular?” Amy asked.

“Well Megan Fox is hot as hell.  No further explanation needed.  And Danica McKellar?  Well she is just my dream woman.”

“Isn’t she Winnie – “

“-from the Wonder Years!  Yes!  I mean, what guy didn’t have a crush on Winnie.  Did you know she has a math degree from UCLA, and has her own math theorem.  It’s called the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.  She also wrote four math texts geared towards girls and younger kids.  They are just great.  See?”  Barry pointed to the four math texts on his bookshelf.

“You actually bought them?” Amy laughed.  “That math is a bit basic for you isn’t it?”

“Well, what can I say, I’m a fan” Barry chuckled.  “You know I have a thing for girls who know math.”

“I thought I read that she recently remarried.” Amy stated.

Barry sighed and looked wistfully at Amy.  “Yes, well it seems like all the good ones are always taken.”

Amy and Barry awkwardly looked at each other.  Amy cleared her throat.   “So the paper?”

“Yes!  I have your copy here.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.  I’m going to publish it on pre-print server tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see the reaction on this idea.  Again, Amy, I can’t thank you enough.” Barry said happily.

“You’re welcome, but really it was all you on this idea.  I just gave you a little push.  I’m looking forward to reading this.”

Amy looked around the room at all the photos and posters.  “You know Barry, I really like your office.  It feels pretty cozy in here.”  She spied a very small framed old photo of a young woman holding a baby.  It had been tucked inconspicuously beside his computer but behind a stack of papers.

“Well, I figure, I spend most of my time here, might as well make it a home away from home.  What’s your lab like Amy?”

“Oh, well it’s a typical biology lab.  Nothing too crazy in there.  Just a lot of test tubes and beakers…and a container full of brains.  You know, run of the mill stuff.” Amy said.

“Oh, yes…cause we all just have brains sitting around our offices” Barry laughed.  “So, no pictures of half naked men on your walls?” Barry teased.  He took a swig of his coffee that was sitting on his desk.

“Oh I don’t need photos of half naked men on my wall.  I’ve seen enough fully naked men.  Approximately 400 of them.” Amy stated matter of factly.

Barry spit out his coffee.  “400!  Geez Amy!  Maybe Bio-Whore was a good nickname for you” he laughed.

“Huh?  Oh my God…no!  That’s not what I meant.  I meant cadavers!  I’ve seen 400 male cadavers.  Not live breathing men” Amy said flustered.

Barry smiled at Amy.  She looked so cute when she was embarrassed.  Her face had flushed all red.  Her eyes went wide and she was shifting around in her chair.

“Don’t worry Amy, I’m only teasing.  From what I hear, Cooper keeps you busy enough to be thinking about other guys” Barry muttered.

“What?” Amy said puzzled.

“Oh never mind…not important.  But, I wouldn’t mind seeing your lab sometime.  I’d like to meet your blissed out starfish… if you are willing?”

“That would be nice.  Drop by anytime” Amy said happily.  “Well I should probably get back to work.   I’ll let you know what I think of the paper.”

“Yes, please do.  And be harsh Amy….I can take the criticism.” Barry smiled at her.

“Gloves are off.  I’ll let you know.” Amy snickered. 

Barry watched her as she exited his office.  He sighed… it was true…why are the good ones always taken?  Cooper sure was a lucky guy.

 

* * *

 

 Sheldon was in his office working on his latest derivation.  He couldn’t concentrate because his “fight” with Amy was still on his mind.  He couldn’t believe that she was still being cold to him.  He had explained his feelings about the train, like she requested.  He even admitted that he missed her when she was away.  What more was she looking for?  She said that this wasn’t about coitus, but knowing her it probably was.  This was Penny’s influence on her, he was sure.  She had been so quiet during games night.  She had just sat on the chair on her phone barely saying a word.

_Knock, Knock_.

“Come in.” Sheldon called out.

Leonard, Raj and Howard strolled in, excitedly.  They surrounded him at his desk.

“Hey Sheldon, did you read Kripke’s latest paper on the pre-print server on Light Cone Quantization?  It’s pretty incredible stuff.” Leonard said.

“Kripke?  I highly doubt anything he could produce would be of much value.”

“Oh, I don’t know….I think you should really give this one a read.” Leonard said.

Sheldon sat down at his desk, and went to the website and pulled up the paper.  He started skimming the first couple of paragraphs when Howard interrupted him.

“The buzz around the physics department, is that a certain someone helped him with the idea.” Howard grinned.

“Well that figures.  Kripke doesn’t seem capable of original thought.  Who helped him?” Sheldon asked.

“Oh, one Miss Amy Farrah Fowler…  She had some mathematical modeling idea that was really unique, and Barry used it in his paper.” Raj stated.

Sheldon stopped reading dead in his tracks.  Amy?  Amy had helped Barry?  He couldn’t believe it.  Was she so petty, that when she was angry with him, she’d help out his professional rival?

“Trouble in paradise Sheldon?  Why is Amy helping out Kripke?  You both are working in string theory, why didn’t she share that idea with you?” Howard asked.

“Oh she did.” Sheldon said tensely.  He got up from his chair.  “Gentlemen, sorry I don’t have time to waste on this drivel right now, I have an important meeting I need to prepare for.”

Leonard looked at his friend.  He could tell he was upset, he face was all flushed and he was cracking his knuckles nervously.

“Hey guys, let’s go.  Sheldon we’ll catch up with you at lunch?”

“Yes, I will see you there” he replied.  He closed the door and went back to his desk.  He pulled the paper up, and read the entire thing carefully.  Kripke’s paper was good…more than good, it was ground breaking.  Amy’s mathematical modeling technique was thought provoking.  But that was not the point…where was her loyalty?  She was **his** girlfriend.  She should not be helping someone she knows is his professional rival.  The more and more he thought about it, the angrier he got.  He grabbed his wallet and keys….he was going to give one Miss Amy Farrah Fowler a piece of his mind.

 

**A/N:  Oh oh….Looks like Amy and Sheldon are heading towards a fight.    How will Kripke play into this??**


	5. Chapter 5

The annoying repetitive beep of Barry’s alarm clock was droning on in his bedroom.  He reached out his hand to try to whack the alarm off, but managed to knock his phone off the bedside table.  After banging his clock multiple times, he turned off the annoying alarm.  Now he was trying to reach his phone from the floor without extracting himself from the covers.  It was pointless…he sat up and retrieved his phone from the floor.  He crawled back into bed and opened up his email, shielding his eyes from the bright light.  Twenty messages!  He sat up and started going through them.  They were all regarding his Light Cone Quantization paper.  He had posted the paper the previous day, late in the afternoon.  Most of the emails were from physicists in Europe, who had read the paper overnight.  He started scanning his emails, with a big smile on his face.  Most of the responses were great.  Barry hopped out of bed.  This was fantastic!  This paper was really leading to something big.

Barry noticed that he had a text message.  He smiled when he saw who it was from; it was from Amy, sent at 12 am last night.  He opened the text:

**_Hey Kripkenite,  I couldn’t sleep so I checked out the response on your paper.  It’s being talked about on the Physics Diaries Blog.  Check it out!  So proud of you!_ **

Barry navigated to the blog, and saw that there was a huge discussion going on about his paper.  This was awesome!  There were a lot of comments, the majority of them positive.  This was going to be a significant milestone in his career, he could just feel it.  Amy deserved so much credit for helping him come up with this.  He wanted to find some way to thank her.  Perhaps a nice bottle of wine?  He could surprise her and bring her some scones from Euro Pane Bakery to her lab.  Perfect.  He’d stop off on his way to work and buy some red wine, and some warm scones from the bakery as a thank-you.  He couldn’t wait to discuss the response with her.

Barry started humming while getting ready.  This was turning out to be a great day.

 

* * *

 

Amy was sitting in her lab, writing her latest findings from her experiment on her computer.  She was having trouble concentrating because she hadn’t slept well the night before.  Her issues with Sheldon were on her mind.  She had barely spoken to him for over a week, and even though she went for Chinese at his apartment the other night, she really didn’t say much at all.  She was just so upset about what Sheldon had said, she didn’t even know how to approach him on the issue.  Amy sighed…she knew she was going to have to confront him about it at some point.

_Knock, knock, knock_   “Amy?”

_Knock, knock, knock_   “Amy?”

_Knock, knock, knock_   “Amy?”

 Amy looked up surprised that Sheldon had come to visit her at her lab.  Perhaps their problems were weighing on his mind also.

 “Come In” she called out.

 Sheldon walked in with a serious look on his face.  He tossed a paper in front of Amy, which landed with a thud in front of her.  It was Kripke’s Light Cone Quantization paper.

 “What is this?” Sheldon said sternly.

 “What do you mean what is this?  That’s Barry’s Light Cone Quantization Paper.” Amy stated.  “I assume you read it?  I think that it is really good.”

 “You mean it’s Barry’s paper that YOU helped him with, with your modeling idea.” Sheldon stated again.

 “Well, yes, I did explain the modeling idea to Barry and we exchanged some ideas, but he came up with all the findings in that paper himself.  Why?”

“Why?  Why?  Where do you get off helping that miscreant Kripke?  You know he is my professional rival, and you are helping him?  Where is your loyalty?” Sheldon said indignantly.

“My loyalty?  Excuse me, but I tried to tell you about this idea, not once but twice.  And twice you blew me off, and wouldn’t even hear me out.” Amy snapped back.

“That is not the point. “ Sheldon sputtered.  “Whether or not I use your idea is mute.  The point is, you don’t go helping the one person who I am working against.”

“Working against?  I thought true scientists would put the advancement of science before ego.  I was merely helping a fellow scientist out. You had first dibs, but you didn’t want to hear it.   You’re just being petty.”

“Petty?  Petty?  I’m not the one being petty.  You are being petty.  We all know the reason that you are helping Barry Kripke out.  It’s not in the interest of science.  It’s simply because you are mad at me.   Oh, I’m Amy and I’m upset about some relationship nonsense.  Should I go simply talk to Sheldon about it?  No!  That would make too much sense.  I know what I’ll do….I’ll go help the one person he hates at work, just to get back at him.  So, now who is being petty?” Sheldon ranted.

Amy stared at Sheldon stunned.  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  That was not how it was at all.

“Barry Kripke has humiliated me multiple times in front of my colleagues.  He even humiliated me on National Public Radio.  Where, in that calculating brain of yours, does it make sense to help him out?   As my girlfriend, you should not have even fathomed helping someone like him out.  You are supposed to be on MY side.  You go on about how girlfriends and boyfriends should behave all the time.  Well, I don’t think this is how a loving girlfriend would behave at all.”

“Do you know what Sheldon?  You are just being jealous.  Jealous, arrogant, AND petty.  This has very little to do with me, and A LOT to do with you and how you treat people.” Amy said angrily.

“Oh this I’d like to hear..” Sheldon snorted.  “I have no reason to be jealous.  People are jealous of me.”

“Yes Jealous.  You, Sheldon Cooper….Jealous.  You are completely jealous of Barry Kripke.”

“Like I said before, I have no reason to be jealous of that subpar wannabe physicist.”

“Who published multiple papers to great reviews last year?  The Great Sheldon Cooper?  Nope, it was Kripke.  Who were you upset about last year, that his work was miles ahead of yours?  Yes, it was that ‘wannabe’ physicist.     And what did that subpar physicist do when he got stuck in his research in string theory?  He talked with colleagues to get new ideas and expand his thinking.  What did you do Sheldon?  Did you do that?  No, you just run away when things get hard.  Get frustrated in String Theory…I know..I’ll jump on a train and run away from my problems.”

“Good Lord Amy, the train again?  You can’t let that little gem go.  Excuse me, if I needed some time to think.  I needed some time alone to get clarity on things, especially when my life was changing so suddenly.  Yes, it was unplanned which is unlike me, but it was something that I needed to do.  The difference is, while I may have hurt your feelings by leaving so suddenly, my intention was clearly not to hurt you, it was just to refocus.   You helped Barry out, just to be vindictive and hurt me because you were upset with me.  I always prided our relationship on having good communication and honesty, but clearly this is an area where you are lacking.”

Amy was getting angry.  She stood up and walked towards Sheldon.  “You want to talk about good communication?  How would you feel if your ideas were dismissed without a thought?  You wouldn’t even hear the idea to see if you agreed or disagreed with it.  You are so arrogant, and you think you are so much smarter than everyone, that nobody elses ideas hold value.  Do you know what?  I am just as smart as you.  And even if I wasn’t, you have no right to talk to me in such a dismissive manner.”

Amy continued on.  “Furthermore, if you want complete honesty, yes I am upset about our relationship, but that was NOT why I helped Kripke.  I wasn’t helping him to be vindictive or to specifically hurt you.  Not everything is about you!  Frankly, I found it refreshing to discuss my ideas without being dismissed or belittled.  He was eager to hear what I had to say, he was genuinely interested.    He took a genuine interest in my research and my ideas.” Amy said flatly.

“Nothing about Kripke is genuine.” Sheldon grumbled.  “His sudden interest in you probably has more to do with me than you.”    He knew that Kripke was probably just nosing around Amy because of what he had told him about their sex life, and not because he wanted to find out about Amy’s research.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Amy questioned.

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter.  We are getting way off topic here.  You said you were upset about our relationship, but I thought we agreed to keep going on our present trajectory.  What has got your feathers in a flap again then?” Sheldon asked.

“I heard something the other day that really upset me.” Amy said quietly.

“What did you hear?” Sheldon asked, worried about what Kripke could have told her.

“Well after our date night the other week, I was upset with how we left things, so I went to come find you to talk to you about it.  You were in the cafeteria with the guys.  I overheard your conversation.”

“I can’t imagine anything we said could be upsetting to you.  But what exactly did you hear?”

“You guys were talking about how when starting  a new romantic relationship, you lose two of your current friends.  Raj said that you didn’t lose any friends when you started dating me, and then you said that you wouldn’t define us as ‘romantic partners’” Amy sniffed.

“Really Amy?  That is what got you so upset?” Sheldon said as he shook his head

“YES!  What do you mean, is that what got me upset?  My boyfriend of four years, doesn’t even consider me a romantic partner?   Yes, I find that extremely upsetting!  If you don’t see me that way, then why the relationship agreement?  Why did you ask me to be your girlfriend?  We could have remained friends, but you were the one that asked me.  Did you really want to have a relationship, or was it merely about preventing me from starting one of my own with someone else.  I thought you wanted to be in this relationship because you had feelings for me, not because you were merely feeling possessive.”

Sheldon glared at her.   He couldn’t believe that she thought he was only in the relationship as a possessive move.  “You changed so much.  I miss the Amy I met four years ago.  The one that was sure of herself, and knew what and what she did not want.  We had a relationship of the mind, I enjoyed spending time with you.  This is why I wanted to be in a relationship with you.  But now I look at you and wonder where that woman went?  Off drunk with Penny and Bernadette, trying be and act like them, obsessed with coitus , trying to turn me into a guy from one of your stupid romance novels.”

“Yes I’ve changed!  People change, that doesn’t make it bad.  I have friends for the first time in my life, and I love it.  I have a boyfriend for the first time in my life.  Yes, I want to kiss and touch you.  I would hope that you would find that flattering.  I also want to be kissed and touched.  And that is not a crazy statement!  I want to feel like a real woman who is desirable.  People in relationships are romantic partners.  If you don’t see me that way, then I need to question why we are in a relationship at all.” Amy cried.

“This conversation is just going in circles.  Everything just comes back down to coitus with you.  I told you how I felt when we played Dungeon and Dragons.  You know I have real feelings for you.”  Sheldon sighed.  “Listen, I think we are both a little heated right now.  I propose we stop this conversation here, and speak to each other in a couple days when we both have collected our thoughts.”

Sheldon looked down at Amy.  She was wiping the tears that were flowing down her face.

“Fine.” Amy said quietly.

“Good.” Sheldon replied.  He grabbed his wallet and keys from her table and exited the lab.  Amy watched the door close, and then she burst into tears.

 

* * *

 

 

 Barry was walking down the hallway in the Biology building looking for Amy’s lab.  He was trying to juggle the bottle of red wine, scones, and a stack of comments he had printed off about his paper.  He was a little lost, as the halls of the biology building were unfamiliar to him.  There it was, room 175.  He walked up to the door but he could hear Amy and Sheldon’s voices speaking loudly in a very heated manner.  He leaned towards the door and listened and heard Amy’s shaky voice.

_Yes, I want to kiss and touch you.  I would hope that you would find that flattering.  I also want to be kissed and touched.  And that is not a crazy statement!  I want to feel like a real woman who is desirable.  People in relationships are romantic partners.  If you don’t see me that way, then I need to question why we are in a relationship at all._

Barry could hear Amy crying.  What the hell was going on in there?  He then heard Sheldon’s voice.

_This conversation is just going in circles.  Everything just comes back down to coitus with you.  I told you how I felt when we played Dungeon and Dragons.  You know I have real feelings for you.  Listen, I think we are both a little heated right now.  I propose we stop this conversation here, and speak to each other in a couple days when we both have collected our thoughts._

Barry ducked around the corner to avoid Sheldon seeing him.  He saw him burst out of the office and walk towards the exit.

Barry was completely puzzled by what he just heard.  Amy wants to kiss and touch Sheldon?  She wants him to do the same to her?  Not romantic partners?  But what about all the crazy sex they were having all the time.  He said he was giving it to her on a nightly basis.  Sheldon did say that everything comes down to coitus with her?  But why was she questioning if he has feelings for her?  This was so strange.  Something wasn’t adding up….  He couldn’t ask Cooper or Amy, but he was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

 

**A/N:  I got myself upset writing this chapter.  Sigh….  I did my best to keep the fight a bit balanced between them.  Up next….Kripke investigates…but will he find out the truth?  Thank-you to all that have reviewed,  I really appreciate it and love reading your thoughts!**


	6. Chapter 6

Barry was sitting in his office playing with his rubix cube contemplating the events of the morning.  After Sheldon had left, he had entered the lab to try to talk to Amy.  She was a mess, with tears running down her face, and was clearly embarrassed to be seen like that.    She told him that she couldn’t talk right now, and tried to get him to leave.  He kept trying to talk to her, but she was too upset and clearly didn’t want to be around anyone.  He gave her the scones and wine, but she just burst out crying again when she saw them.  She seemed quite anxious that he was there, so he told her he could call her later, and left the lab.

He hated leaving Amy like that.  It was hard to see her cry.  She looked so small and little at that point.  All he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

Stupid Cooper.  He did this to her.  He was so confused about the conversation that he had overheard.  From what Cooper had told him, they were all over each other like two dogs in heat.  But Amy was saying something like, she wants to touch Sheldon and she wants to be touched?  That’s what romantic partners do?  Sheldon saying that she’s all about coitus and that she knows that he has real feelings for her?    And why was she running experiments, to make him increase his feelings for her?  The whole thing made no sense whatsoever.  Maybe they were having problems in the last few months?  It sounded to him like Cooper wasn’t giving up the loving anymore.  What an idiot.  If Amy was his girlfriend, he would hold her and…  Barry shook his head.  He couldn’t start thinking like that.  The fact was that she was Cooper’s girlfriend not his.

The truth was he was starting to think about Amy a bit differently.  At the beginning, it was mainly out of curiosity on what type of girl would date such a strange guy like Sheldon.  The first thing he noticed was her quick wit.  Then he noticed that she was quite funny and sarcastic.  Now, as he got to know her better, he was noticing her physical attributes.  Her long dark brown hair, her beautiful green eyes with flecks of gold in them...  The fact that her eyes sparkled every time she started talking about something she was passionate about.  Her lips looked so soft and sweet.  She was a cute little thing, not very tall, but she had a curvy body, just the way he liked.  He shook his head again.  This type of thinking was not going to help anyone…least of all him.

But Amy was his friend, and he wanted to find out the truth about what was going on.  Clearly, Amy and Sheldon weren’t going to tell him.  He would need to find out the truth from someone else.

His calendar popped up a reminder. _Caltech Friday Night Faculty and Staff Mixer at Rathskeller_.  Well that sounded like fun.  Maybe it would help get his mind off of Amy, and he’d meet some other nice ladies.  Barry grabbed his wallet and headed out the door

 

* * *

 

 “Raj, you may want to slow down there a bit.  I don’t know why you still drink grasshoppers.  It’s not very manly looking.” Howard said as he sipped his beer at Rathskeller.  They had decided to hit the faculty mixer as Emily and Bernadette both had to work late tonight.

“Beer?  Dude…this is a sweet minty delight.  Why would I want to drink something so bitter.  Besides, I’ve got nothing to prove.” Raj said happily.

“Yes…yes…we all know you are having sex with Emily.  I think everyone and their dog knows you are having sex with Emily.” Howard muttered.

“Hey, I finally have the opportunity to brag…don’t rain on my parade.” Raj protested. 

“Fine….fine.” Howard looked up towards the bar.  “Hey, isn’t that Kripke?”.  Barry was over at the bar chatting with the female bartender.  When he saw the guys, he lifted his drink to say hello.

“Of course, it’s Kripke.  Where there is social event with women, Kripke will be there.”  They watched as Kripke was laughing talking with bartender.  She gave him a clear drink, and he started heading their way.

“Hello gentlemen.  Quite the sausage fest in here again, isn’t it?” Barry stated.

“Well as we are BOTH off the market now, it doesn’t really make a difference to us.  But yes, there appears to be quite a few sausages and not a lot of….what is the expression?” Raj asked.

“Buns?” Howard joked.  Raj and Barry both started laughing.   Barry sat down at their table and set his drink down.

“So Kripke, your paper sure is getting a lot of buzz.  It’s all I’ve been hearing about today.” Howard said.

“Yeah, I’m really stoked about it.  But I really need to give credit to Amy, her modeling idea, got me thinking in a whole different direction.” Barry said with a smile.

“Yeah, dude what’s with that?  Since when are you chummy with Amy?  I’m surprised that Sheldon didn’t throw a fit about her helping you and not him.”  Raj slurred.

“Yeah, well, I’m getting the impression, that he was not really all that happy about it.  Amy told me that she tried to tell him the idea first, but he just wasn’t interested.”

“Yup, that sounds like our Sheldon.  Head stuck too far up his own ass to see what’s in front of him.  Dude, you should have seen his face when we told him that Amy collaborated with you.” Raj joked.

“Oh really?  Yeah, I got the impression that he was not too pleased about that this morning.” Kripke said quietly.

That was surprising…did Amy not tell Sheldon that she had helped him?  Kripke looked at Raj and Howard as they were chatting at the table.  He knew from Howard’s bachelor party that Raj was quite a talker when he drinks.  He didn’t hold anything back.  Raj was already was halfway looped, he just needed a little push to get the floodgates open.  He looked over at the waitress and gave her a little smile.  She nodded at him, that she would be right there. 

“Why is your drink fluorescent green?  It looks disgusting.” Kripke said.

“What’s with all the hate on my drink?  You should give it a try, you might like it.” Raj slurred.

“Yeah, no thanks, I’ll just stick to my gin and tonic.”

“Geez, am I the only man around here that drinks an actual beer?” Howard chuckled.

“I just wasn’t in a mood for a beer tonight” Kripke stated.  “How is it that Howard, who looks all of 90 lbs, is less drunk than Koothrappali?” Kripke joked. 

“I’m not 90 lbs!  I’m just…svelte.  Streamlined.  And I can handle my drinks like a man.” Howard retorted.

“Streamlined?  The word is skinny as fu-“ Raj started.

“-Hey Raj, I know a drink you would just love.” Kripke interrupted.  ”It’s sweet and fruity, I think you’d really like it…it’s called a Zombie.”

“A Zombie…well that sounds like an Emily approved drink if I ever heard one.  I might give it a shot.”

The waitress showed up at their table.  “Could I order two zombies for my friends here, and a gin and tonic” Barry asked her.  “Don’t worry, it’s on me” he added.  She nodded and went back to the bar.

“Hey, what about you?  Why aren’t you getting one?” Howard asked.

“It’s a little too sweet for my tastes, and I’m not ‘off the market’ like you two are.  Gotta look good for the ladies, right?”

The waitress brought over two orange looking cocktails, and one gin and tonic.  Barry lifted up his glass to Raj and Howard.  “Cheers” he said, and the three of them clinked their glasses.

_Three Zombies later…_

“Duuude…Have you seen Emily?  She is so smoking hot….I can’t believe I get to have sex with her.” Raj slurred heavily.  “What the hell are in those drinks….they ARE a fruity delight, but they are really kicking my ass…”

Kripke grinned at Raj and Howard.  They were a complete mess.  Both of their eyes were glazed and unfocused.  Raj was waxing on poetic about him and Emily’s sex life, which was more interesting and kinky than he had thought.  Howard was starting to chirp in a bit about him and Bernadette.  This was turning out to be a very informative and funny evening.  Time to try to open the broken “vault of secrets”…

“Oh you know… just white rum, golden rum, dark rum, apricot brandy, 151 proof rum, pineapple juice and a little lime juice for a kick.” Kripke laughed.

“One..three..two….five types of liquor???  Oh my god…that’s going to hit me hard tomorrow morning…I’ll just be bent over.” Howard said slowly.

“That’s what she said!” Raj laughed.  Howard burst out laughing.

“No…that’s what Sailor Moon said!” Raj said.  Now they were both howling with laughter.  Howard wiped tears from his eyes.

“Now back to Emily….did you know she likes to –“ Raj started.

“God!  Enough about Emily!  You’re not the only one with a hot sex life you know.” Howard interrupted.

“Yeah, what about Cooper and Amy?  From what Cooper told me they go at it like animals.  Cosplay…Toys?  He even told me they use a model rocket!” Kripke stated.

Howard and Raj looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“What?  What’s so funny?”

“Dude, I can’t believe you actually believed Cooper.” Raj giggled.

“What do you mean?” Barry said confused.

“We’ll describe their hot relationship to you.   Erotic Eye staring.” Howard started

“Sexy tea drinking” Raj replied.

“Hot arrogant conversations about physics versus biology” Howard retorted.

“Robotic hugging” Raj responded.

“Relationship Agreement sanctioned one minutes kisses” Howard added.

“Date night only, don’t forget.” Raj said.

“Yes, date night only” Howard agreed.

“Whaaa?  I’m totally confused.  Relationship agreement?  What’s that?  I don’t get it, what are you guys talking about?” Kripke said stunned.

“Dude, they’ve never had sex.  They barely even kiss.  Sheldon has all their physical contact limited and laid out in this crazy relationship agreement that he wrote up and Amy signed.  I’m actually surprised Sheldon managed to stay in a relationship this long, but Amy is a bit of a nutcase herself.” Raj slurred.

Barry was floored.  “Wow…I mean.  I still don’t quite get it.  They’ve been dating for four years?  Doesn’t Sheldon want to sleep with Amy?”

“Oh you know Sheldon.  Who knows what’s going on in that mysophobic head of his.  I’m not even sure if he has hormones” Howard muttered.

“What about Amy?  Is she ok with this?  I mean, she must be going crazy by now.” Kripke asked.  He was thinking about what Amy had said in the lab this morning.  That she wanted to touch Sheldon and she wanted to be touched herself.  It was all starting to make sense.

“Aahh..Amy is a strange duck herself.  I think the first couple of years it didn’t bug her.  I think that the whole thing is starting to frustrate her though.  Well, that’s what you get for willingly getting into a relationship with Dr. Strangelove.  Maybe cause they are both virgin’s they don’t know what they are missing” Raj said.

Barry spit out his drink.  “Virgins?”

“Raj, shut up.  You don’t need to announce that to everyone.” Howard said in an annoyed tone.

“What, it’s both their own doing.  Sheldon cause he’s not a real boy and hasn’t really looked at a woman before with any interest.  Amy, cause she’s socially awkward and dresses like a sixty year old librarian.” Raj responded.

“I really don’t think you of all people should be talking about being socially awkward Raj, mister ‘I couldn’t talk to women my whole life’.  And Amy is a sweetheart, she was a little awkward when she first met us, but now she is fine.” Howard said heatedly.

“Oh you just like Amy since your Neil Diamond bonding session.” Raj replied.

“Amy is beautiful and interesting.  She doesn’t need to change a thing about herself.” Kripke said quietly.  Howard and Raj both at each other and gave Kripke a funny look.  Kripke cleared his throat and tried to get the conversation back onto Sheldon.

“Why did Sheldon say all that stuff about their sex life then?  He’s never lied about women in the past.” he asked.

“Aawh, he was just going with your excuse on why his work wasn’t stellar.  He just didn’t have an excuse, so it was easier to go along with your reason.  Plus it kind of makes him look like a stud.”

Howard moaned.  “Oh the room is starting to spin….” he complained.

Kripke and Raj both looked at Howard who was looking more and more nauseous.  “I think you better get this guy home, before he pukes.  If he does, then no cab will take you…  Here I’ve got a cab driver buddy, let me call him and see if he’ll pick you two up.”  Kripke pulled out his phone, and called his friend.  “Ok, he’ll be outside in about five minutes.  Howard, do you think you can make it home without yakking?”

“I’ve plummeted to earth at breakneck speeds.  I think I can handle a cab drive home.” Howard muttered.  He tried standing up, but was wobbling around. 

“Are you sure you two are ok to get home?” Barry asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine.  But you’re definitely not choosing the drinks next time.” Raj slurred.  They both headed towards the door.  They waved goodbye and headed out.

 

* * *

 

Barry was sitting at the table trying to take in everything he had heard.  Virgins?  Barely kiss?  Time sanctioned kissing?  Relationship Agreement?  This was way more bizarre than he was ever expecting.  It made a lot of sense with what he had overhead from this morning though.  It sounded like Amy was tired of this arrangement; that she wanted a more physical relationship with Sheldon.

He couldn’t imagine that Amy would be ok with Cooper talking about their “sex life” though, especially in light of what he just learned.  He wondered if she even knew about what Sheldon had said.  Interesting.  Very interesting indeed…..

 

**A/N:  So Kripke knows everything now.  But what’s he going to do about it??  Thanks again for the reviews, I absolutely love reading them!**


	7. Chapter 7

Sheldon was sitting in his office, looking at his clock.  The last time he had spoke to Amy was at 10:42 am on Friday morning.  It was now 9:32 am Monday morning.  That was 70 hours and 50 minutes…4250 minutes…255,000 seconds.  He had suggested a couple of days to cool off.  A couple of days equals to 48 hours, which was only 172,800 seconds.  They were overdue by 82,200 seconds.  They had gone way past what he had suggested, and it was making him feel uneasy. 

Sheldon grabbed his phone and opened a photo of her.  It was a candid picture that he had snapped of her when she wasn’t looking at her lab.  This was his favourite photo of her.  She was laughing at a joke that he had told her.  Her hair was out but pinned to the side with a little diamond studded barrette.  She looked so happy in that picture.  He missed her funny little laugh, and her humorous quips, her pretty green eyes, her soft sweet lips.  He hated not speaking with her, not seeing her.  He just plain missed her.

Sheldon was still upset that she had helped Kripke, but he had played a part in that mess.  He really should have listened to Amy when she was talking about her idea.   His day was filled with people droning on about their idiotic thoughts; it was easy to tune them out.  He knew that he shouldn’t group Amy with the others.  She was brilliant.  She was different.   He still didn’t think that she should have helped Kripke out of principle, but she generally wasn’t a vindictive person.  He could give her the benefit of the doubt.  The most upsetting thing to him about their fight was the fact that she didn’t think that he really wanted to be with her, that he was merely was in this relationship out of jealousy and to prevent her from seeing others.

Perhaps  that’s how It may appear to an outsider, but Amy consumed his thoughts.  He was constantly wondering, what Amy thought of this, would Amy like that.  Did she honestly thought he didn’t want to touch her?  Not a night went by when he wasn’t thinking about her.  Wondering what it would be like to kiss her deeply, to lie in bed with her…to touch her…to wake up next to her.  But he couldn’t let himself slip into this hippy dippy thinking.  She was already distracting him from his work enough.  He swore he wasn’t going to be one of those people ruled by his hind brain.

Nonetheless, it was time to fix things between them.  He didn’t want to go another minute with this fight between them.  Sheldon stood up and walked towards his office door when he heard a loud knock.

“Who is it?” Sheldon called out curiously.

“It’s Barry” he heard the voice on the other side of the door call out.  Great.  Kripke was the last person he wanted to talk to.  The man was so descipcalbe, he knew that the only reason that he started talking to Amy was because of what Sheldon had told them about their supposed sex life.  Well it was time to let him know that working with Amy was completely unacceptable.

“Come in”, he said sternly.

Kripke walked in with a serious look on his face.  He walked up to Sheldon and looked him in the eye, he didn’t want to beat around the bush.  “Cooper, we need to talk NOW.”

“I completely agree.” Sheldon said tensely.  “Where do you get off collaborating with my girlfriend?  We both know, you did not have some altruistic reason for working with her.  You were merely working with her, based off the information I told you about previously about our sexual relationship.  I don’t know why you get your perverted jollies from that, but it is not right, and I won’t stand for it.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me right?  God, Cooper, not everything is about you.  I worked with Amy because she is brilliant, and had a good idea.  An idea, which I might add, she tried to share with you twice.  It’s not my fault that you are such a dumbass that you can’t see a good thing right in front of you.”

“You do not need to tell me that Amy is intelligent.  I know that, she’s my girlfriend.  No one knows her better, or cares for her more than I do.  If she has ideas she wants to share, it will be with me.  You are no longer an option.” Sheldon said decisively.

“What are you speaking for her now?  Last I checked, she could make her own decisions on who she can collaborate with or not.”

“Give me a break Barry.  We both know that this is more about you trying to piss me off, than it has anything to do with Amy.  That’s really vile Barry, to try to use my own girlfriend just to upset me.”

Barry laughed at Sheldon’s arrogance.  “You know what Cooper, you are full of shit.  Completely.  I know everything OK, you can’t lie to me anymore.”

“Know everything?  What are you talking about?” Sheldon asked with a worried look on his face.

“I know about the relationship agreement.  I know that you and Amy never had sex.  I know that you two barely kiss or hold hands.  I know that you are both virgins.”  Barry spat out.

Sheldon’s face went red with embarrassment.  Why was his private life and affairs a matter for discussion?  Who told him all this information?  “Who told you all of this?  Was it Amy?” he asked.

“No it wasn’t Amy.  She doesn’t know I know anything.  Let me ask you this.  Does Amy know that you were talking about your hot “sex life” with me?  All the details?  That you give it to her on a nightly basis?”

Sheldon felt his mouth go dry, his face was still flushed red.   “What about your part in this?  I only told you that to get you off my back about my work.  You were the one spreading that rumour around campus.  I had no part in that.”

“Did you once try to correct me, or tell me to stop?  Let’s face it, you liked this rumour.” Barry replied.

“I did not” Sheldon said quietly.

“You are such a blowhard.  It’s freaking amazing.  I’ve never met a human being so arrogant, and who clearly has a horseshoe shoved up his ass” Barry ranted.

“What are you talking about?”  
  
“Oh I’m Sheldon Cooper.  I have an IQ of bazillion but am I humble about it?  No!  I had to grow up with a loving mother, who supported me.  I got my way paid through university.  I have a group of friends who cater to my endless whims.  I have a gorgeous girlfriend, who is intelligent, witty and funny.  Do I make her feel good about herself by listening to her and be grateful to be around such an amazing woman.  No I condescend her intelligence, and make her feel bad for wanting to touch me!  No, I just ignore the fact that my girlfriend looks like a goddess, is smart as a whip, is funny as hell…”

Sheldons eyes narrowed as he listened to Kripke.  Why was he going on so much about Amy?  How much time had he spent with her?   Why was he commenting on how beautiful she was?  That was not his place.  He stared at him further, and it clicked to him.  Kripke wasn’t just bothering Amy to get to him.  Kripke was trying to get Amy for himself.  Sheldon started to feel his blood boil.  How dare he go after his girlfriend? He was going to pay….

“How dare you try to encroach on my relationship with Amy.  What we do or do not do is our business only.  I may not be the best person at picking up subtleties but even I can see clear as day what is going on.  Let’s get one thing clear Kripke.  Amy is MY girlfriend.  She would never be interested in an oaf like you, so get that thought out of your head right now.  This is the last straw Kripke, trying to steal my girlfriend away from me -”

“-I am not trying to steal your girlfriend.  You are doing a fabulous job of making her want to leave all on her own by just being your regular asshole self.  I’m just pissed, now that I know how awesome she is, that you were totally ok with letting those rumours fly ”

Sheldon stood up to his full height and stood right in front of Barry.  He said in a very cold and menacing tone.  “I’m not an idiot Barry.  You need to back off NOW.”  He looked at Barry’s face and laughed.  “Do you honestly think that a woman like Amy would give you a second look?  She would never waste her virtue on such an unworthy candidate.  Everyone knows that you are just a dirty, pathetic man-whore.    There is reason why you’ve never had a long term girlfriend, and it’s not because of your speech impediment.  It’s because you are a complete loser that has to pay money for women to sleep with him.”

Barry was stunned.  Is that really what Sheldon and the others thought of him.  That he was just some loser that went trolling for hookers?  That he could never have a decent girlfriend?   Cooper was such an asshole…He knew Sheldon’s weak spot.

Barry laughed and looked up at Sheldon.  “Do you honestly think you can make her happy Cooper?”

“Obviously.  She wouldn’t be with me, if I didn’t make her happy.  We’ve been together for FOUR years Kripke, which is a hell of a lot longer than your one-night stand relationships.”

“You may be a genius in the field of physics…although that point is debatable lately.  But you are not a genius at everything.  You don’t know a thing about how to make a woman happy.  You know a woman’s first time is supposed to be special.  If you ever decided to give up your damn V-Card, I know you’ll be a pathetic mess.  Fumbling around, making it all about yourself.  It would be over before Amy could even blink.  You could never make her happy.”  Kripke got right up into Sheldon’s face.  “I could make her purr Cooper.  PURR!”

Sheldon shoved Barry back.  “I knew it!  I knew you wanted her…you just said it.  You can’t deny it” he hissed.

“You’re right.  Amy would be my dream girlfriend ok?  But I’m just left shaking my head on why she is with you, as you are clearly not providing her with what she wants.  I can’t believe that you guys only kiss on date night!  From what I overheard, she is clearly looking for more.  And believe me, I would have absolutely no problem with providing her with more.”

“What you overheard!  What did you overhear?” Sheldon yelled.

“What does it matter?  You are a complete and utter liar.  I can’t believe that you told me all those lies about you and Amy.  You lied about everything.  You made it sound like you two were a couple of nymphomaniacs.”

“Why do you even care?  What goes on between Amy and I, is between Amy and I.  It’s like you are forgetting your whole part in this.  I may have not denied what you were implying about our sex life, just to merely get you off of my back.  YOU were the one who spread it around the university like some degenerate.  Thanks to you, everyone on campus is thinking I’m giving Amy’s sex organs a proper jostling.  That’s on you, not me.”

“The sin of omission doesn’t negate your guilt in all this Cooper.  If you didn’t like what I suggested, you could have squashed it right there.  Hell, you didn’t even have to tell me about your and Amy’s weird arrangement.  YOU went along with it.  YOU even expanded on it.  Poor Amy doesn’t even know anything about this –“

“Amy does not need to know anything about this.  It will just upset her, and there is no point.  Fine, I lied, and you acted like classic Kripke and spread it around.  BUT, hear me loudly and clearly when I say this, keep away from Amy.  She is not for you.  And even if she wasn’t with me, she wouldn’t be interested in you.  You Kripke, are a person, not even a mother could love.” Sheldon sputtered.

Barry felt like he had just been punched in the stomach.  He glared at Sheldon.  “You know what?  Fuck you Cooper.  What Amy deserves - ”

“What Amy deserves is to know the truth” a female voice said.

Barry and Sheldon both turned around to see Amy standing at the door.  Her face was pale, and her fists were clenched in anger.

Barry looked at Sheldon.  “Boom Cooper.  Boom!” he muttered.  He quickly walked out the door.

Sheldon and Amy stared at each other.  Sheldon looked nervously at Amy…..How much had she heard?

 

**A/N:  Ok, now everyone knows!  I foresee trouble ahead for Sheldon and Amy.  How is Amy going to react?  How about Sheldon, now that he knows that Kripke is interested in Amy?  Please stay tuned.  Bumpy ride ahead!  Thanks for the reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

“What the hell Sheldon?” Amy sputtered glaring at her tall blue eyed boyfriend.  He stared at her with a guilty look on his face.

“What did you hear?” he asked quietly.  He bit his lip and looked at her nervously.

“Don’t worry about what I did or didn’t hear.  I want you to tell me everything.  Now.  From the very beginning.  If you care about me or our relationship at all, then you will be completely honest with me” Amy said sternly.

Sheldon gulped and felt his mouth go dry.  He was hoping to avoid this conversation at all costs, but it didn’t look like there was any way out of it.  This was all Kripke’s fault.  Him and his big mouth.

Sheldon took a big breath.   “Ok.  I’ll tell you everything, but just remember, my intentions were not bad with this.  It was an unfortunate white lie that got a bit out of hand.”

Amy gave him an unimpressed look.  She crossed her arms, waiting for him to begin.

“So, do you remember when I had to work with Kripke earlier in the year?  And I was upset about his work being more advanced than mine?”  Sheldon cleared his throat.  “Well, Kripke came to my office, to enquire why my work wasn’t up to my usual brilliant standard.   I didn’t really have a good reason.   He suggested that I couldn’t concentrate because I had a girlfriend.”

“So you have a girlfriend.  But I am not distracting you, how did it get from that statement to what I heard?” Amy asked.

“What did you hear?” Sheldon tried again.

“Enough to be pissed off.  Keep talking.” Amy stated.

Sheldon sighed.  “Ok, well Kripke said that he would be distracted too, if he was getting laid all the time.  I didn’t want to admit that I had no good reason for my distraction, so I just went along with his reason.”

“So you told him you were distracted by all the sex we were having!” Amy exclaimed.

“I didn’t tell him that.  I just didn’t refute what he was suggesting.  He was the one that went on and on asking me for more and more details.  I kept trying to change the subject back to physics, but he is such a pervert he kept asking about our sex life.  Asking me if I gave it to you good.  I mean I corrected his grammar and told him I gave it to you well.  Asking if you wore lingerie, if we used toys and stuff like that.  I just went along with it, to get him off my back.   I mean I don’t know why we would play with toys while having sex, it must be part of his weird deviant sexual lifestyle.”

Amy’s eyes went wide as he said that.  She could not believe what she was hearing.  “Who knows about this” she whispered.  Her face was flushed with embarrassment.

“Umm…well Leonard and Penny know, because I told them.  And Kripke was spreading it around the Physics building, so Howard and Raj must have found out from him.  So if Howard knows, that must mean Bernadette knows also.  So I would say Leonard, Penny, Howard, Bernadette, Raj, Emily, the physics department, and the deviants that Kripke hangs out with from other departments.  That’s it.”  Sheldon looked at Amy as her eyes bugged out.  “It’s Kripke!   He’s the one running around with his big mouth telling everyone about it.”

“You knew he was telling everyone about it?  So why didn’t you try to put a stop to this rumour.  Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed.”

Sheldon bit his lip and stared at her. He then started pacing around the room, not saying anything.

“Well Sheldon?   I’m waiting…. Why?  Especially when you know how embarrassing it would be for me.  I feel like I can’t show my face in the building now…God, anywhere on campus!”

“I ahhh….Well, I wasn’t the one spreading this lie around.  That was Kripke.”

“Sheldon, not correcting a lie is just as bad as lying.”

“Oh I don’t know if I agree with that…”Sheldon began.

Amy sat down on the chair and burst into tears.  Sheldon felt his heart skip a beat, he did not mean to upset Amy like this.  He was just trying to avoid looking stupid in front of Kripke and the guys.  He kneeled down in front of her.  “Amy?  It’s not that bad really….  I mean most boyfriend/girlfriend relationships include coitus, so people thinking we are having coitus, is not that bad.”

“It’s not so bad?  It’s not so bad.  Let me tell you, it IS that bad!” Amy snapped wiping the tears from her eyes.  “You hardly even touch me, you won’t kiss me without rules, but you have absolutely no issue with telling people that we are having sex!  I’m so pissed off right now, I don’t even have the words.   I hate being the butt of the joke.  I want my personal life to be private.  I don’t want to be the water cooler talk for people.  I can’t believe you didn’t correct Barry’s assumption, and then perpetuated it forward.  If you are so cool with not having coitus, then why weren’t you honest with him?” 

Sheldon looked at her sadly, but words were escaping him.  Amy continued sobbing into her hands.  He tried to hold her hand but she shoved it away.  “You know what?  I am so happy, that you find it so easy to lie, when it benefits yourself.  You have no problem talking about your imaginary sex life, but when it comes to reality you clam up and shy away.  Do you think I want this stuff getting back to my department?  Nobody should be talking about our sex life.  What hurts is how easily you can talk about it with others, and you can’t even let me know one iota of your real feelings for me.  It’s like squeezing water from a stone.    And everyone knows except me?  Every single person in our group of friends knew about this, and no one bothered to tell me.  You were going on the other day about honesty and loyalty in our relationship?  What is this?  You have no problem besmirching my reputation around campus, instead of just telling people you were in a rut.  Or anything for that matter.  There was no reason to pull me into this at all” Amy ranted.

She got up and started pacing around the office.  “The thing that hurts the most, is in all of this, you haven’t even apologized.  You were dishonest to me, you lied about our relationship, you let people believe stuff about me that was untrue.  All our friends know, and are probably laughing behind my back about it.  I expected more from you Sheldon.  I really did” Amy glared at Sheldon.

“But Kripke…” Sheldon began.

“But Kripke what?  Spread it around.  Believe me, he’s on my list too.  But to be honest, I hold you to a much higher standard than him.  Because you are my boyfriend.   I thought you of all people would want to protect my feelings.  But I guess I was wrong.”

“Amy, you are not wrong.  I should have given Kripke a different excuse.” Sheldon said quietly.

Amy stared at Sheldon. Everything that she thought they had felt like it was crumbling down.   Their intimacy was always such a big thing for them, new and personal.  But now it felt tainted.  Everyone was talking about their sex life.  And the fact that is was still “theoretical” as Bernadette has so succinctly put it, made it all the more painful.  What was she doing in this relationship?  He didn’t really care about her…how could he, if he didn’t even realize how much this would hurt her?  And then to go on for so long, without even confessing it to her?  What happened to Sheldon not being able to lie?  Maybe it was just when it didn’t benefit him?

She had given him too much power in this relationship.  It was time to take a step back and decide what she really wanted.  She didn’t want a boyfriend who had so little respect for her.

She stared Sheldon in the eye as tears filled hers.  “Sheldon, I’m done” she croaked.

“Done?  What do you mean done?” he said urgently.  Sheldon felt his heart racing, panic was starting to overtake his body.

“I can’t do this anymore.  We don’t want the same things.  You don’t even respect me.  You can joke around about something that I desire so much for our relationship without a second thought.  Maybe it is a joke to you, but its not to me. “

“Amy it’s not a joke to me.  It’s important to me too.  It was just a misunderstanding that got out of hand….  Amy don’t do this. I - ”

“You never even apologized to me.  It’s all you.  It’s always you.” Amy sniffed.  “I need a break.  I need time away from you.  Consider us on hiatus.  I suggest you think also, whether you truly want this relationship or not.”

“Amy…I don’t need to think about it.  I do –“

Amy grabbed her purse and wiped tears from her eyes.  “Please don’t contact me.  I’ll contact you when I’m ready.”  She walked out the door.

Sheldon watched her, and felt like he had been kicked in the stomach.  How did this all blow up in his face.  He didn’t mean to hurt her.  He was just trying to avoid embarrassment himself.  He cared so much about Amy.  More than she could ever know….

 

* * *

 

 Amy took a few jagged breaths in the hallway.  What had she just done?  She loved Sheldon so much, but she had never had the nerve to tell him.  But this wasn’t the act of a person in love.  This wasn’t an act of a loving boyfriend.  She shuddered as waves of panic rode through her body.   Confusion, love, anger, pain were all coursing down her veins.  She took a few deep breaths to compose herself.  Breathe, Amy breathe.

She stared down the hall and saw that Kripke’s office door was closed.  Was the reason that he sought her out was because her sex life?  All his little statements, about taking it easy on Cooper now made sense.  She thought that he truly was her friend.  Everything she thought was true was no longer, everything was ringing false.  He had no right to spread that rumour around about her, false or not.  She was going to tell him exactly what she thought of him.

 

* * *

 Kripke was in his office staring blankly at his computer screen.  He was completely and totally pissed off at Sheldon.  How dare he say those things to him, like he was some dirty degenerate.   And now Amy….the first girl he really cared about in a long time, would probably never talk to him again.  He was sure Cooper was putting the blame all on him.  He shook his head. He pushed the stack of papers aside by his computer screen and picked up the old photo frame.  It was a picture of his mother holding him as a six month old baby.  His mom looked so young and beautiful, her sandy brown hair pulled up in a ponytail.  She looked happy holding him, with a large smile splayed across her face.  She must have loved him…but how could she leave?  Mother’s don’t leave their children.  Was Cooper right?  Was he a person not even a mother could love?  He shook his head.  He couldn’t start thinking about this, it always left him in a dark place.  He feared he was already there…

_Knock Knock_

“If that’s you Cooper, you can go to hell.  I don’t want to talk to you.” Barry yelled out.

“It’s me” he heard Amy’s voice call.  He got up quickly and opened the door.  Amy was standing there, her eyes stained red from crying.

“Amy, are you ok?” he said softly as he ushered her into his office.

“No, I am not ok.  I just found out my boyfriend has been lying about our sex life.  I found out my new friend spread that rumour around campus, and I found out that all my friends knew about it, and not one bothered to tell me.  So no, I am not ok.” Amy sputtered. 

She slammed herself down in the chair.  “Barry, how could you?  How could you spread that rumour around?  True or false, it wasn’t a nice thing to do at all.”

Barry sat down at his desk and put his hands between his head.  “Amy, I’m really sorry I am.  I didn’t know you then.  You were just a faceless person then…Cooper’s girlfriend.   Cooper and I have that kind of relationship, where we kind of prank each other.  I get a kick out of getting a rise out of him. Honestly, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Amy stared at him as waves of anger were resonating within her.  She wasn’t sure that she knew the whole truth about what happened.  “What do you know?  And who told you?” Amy demanded.

“Does it really matter Amy?  I know the truth, and now you do too.  I was in the dark about everything until last Friday also.  I could just kick myself ok.  I guess that’s a lesson for me, because I hurt the most amazing person that I’ve met in a long time.” he sighed.

“It does matter to me.  I want to know exactly what everyone knows.  All I know is that you suggested that we were having wild sex all the time, and Sheldon didn’t correct you.   I want to know who told you, and if there is anything else missing.”

“Amy, I still think that this is a pointless conversation.  Why go over the details, it’s just going to upset you.  You know the jist of what was said, I think that’s enough.”  Barry looked over at Amy who looked like she was going to throttle him.  “Ok, you are the wronged party here, so I’ll tell you whatever you want to know” he said quietly.

“Who told you?” Amy asked.

Barry sighed.  “Ok, Amy, I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, and you’re probably going to hate me even more.  I overhead you and Sheldon arguing in your office on Friday, but I just caught the end of your conversation.  You were upset about wanting to touch him, and he was saying something about you are all about coitus.  It just wasn’t adding up with all the sex I thought you two were having.  So I got Raj and Howard drunk and got the truth out of them.”

“You got them drunk?” Amy looked at him incredulously.

“Yeah….” Barry said slowly.

“And what exactly did they tell you?”

“That you and Cooper haven’t had sex.  The relationship agreement.  That you are both virgins.” Barry said quietly.

Amy’s face went white.  He knew that they were both virgins?  That was their private business….she was going to kill Howard and Raj.  She felt her stomach go queazy.  Sex, their agreement, virgins…God was nothing private anymore?

“I feel so embarrassed right now.  I don’t want the general public knowing about my personal life.” She whispered.

“Amy, there is really nothing for you to feel embarrassed about.” Barry said softly.

“Even if you didn’t know it was me, you would have been hurting someone, and that’s not cool.”

“Yeah, well I guess you know that I’m not a great person” Barry muttered.  He moved the stack of papers in front of the photo again.  “That seems to be the general consensus around here.  I’m just a dirty man-whore after all.”  Amy watched as he hid the picture.

Barry sighed.  “Amy you are right, it wasn’t nice of me.  It wasn’t a very cool thing to do, to you or to anyone.  I’m really sorry.  I’m just pissed, cause I think I pretty much screwed up our relationship, and you are the coolest girl l that I think I’ve ever met” he said sadly.

“Well did you just become friends with me, because of what you thought Sheldon and I were doing?” Amy asked.

“If I’m being fully honest with you, I was curious.  Mostly I wanted to know what kind of girl would date Cooper.  But as I got to know you, I really liked you.  And not cause of the stuff I heard, but from being with you and learning about you.  You really are a special girl Amy.”

Amy looked sadly at him.  “I don’t feel particularly special right now.  I never had a boyfriend before you know?  Guys weren’t interested in girls like me.  I kind of threw myself into my studies, and convinced myself that I wasn’t looking for a relationship.  But then I met Sheldon, and I started to get overwhelmed by all these feelings.  I want my boyfriend to find me desirable.  I want him to touch me.  I don’t want to feel like it’s wrong to feel this way.  But maybe I am just kidding myself.  Nobody was interested in me that way before, why should Sheldon be any different…” Amy said as tears welled up in her eyes.

Barry shook his head.  He couldn’t believe that Amy didn’t know how beautiful she was. He thought that she was absolutely gorgeous…inside and out.

“Cooper’s an idiot Amy.  He’s not like most men, you know that.” Barry said sternly.

“Well most men, seem to have the same opinion” Amy said quietly, as a tear rolled down her face.  She broke down and started crying.  All the memories of her life came flooding over her.  The jeers, the rejection, the pain of never being wanted.

Kripke walked up to her and pulled Amy into his arms, stroking her back softly as she cried.  She felt so small in his arms, as he could feel her body shaking as sobbed.  He held her tightly, and rested his head on hers.  He could smell the soft floral scent of her shampoo from her chestnut hair.  “Amy?” he whispered.  She looked up at him.  He took his hand, and gently wiped a tear away from her eyes, and then held it against her cheek.  “Let me tell you how a real man thinks.  A real man would be dying to kiss these soft lips.”   Kripke gently ran his finger across her lips.  “A real man would want to hold you…touch you”  He put his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes.  “A real man would be dying to make love to you, and kiss every inch of your beautiful body.”

Amy gasped and stared up at him.  Her heart was racing.  She could feel her whole body begin to shake.  She didn’t know what to say…She had to say something….anything.

“Your eyes are blue...I never noticed before” she stuttered nervously.

Barry smiled.   “And yours are green” he replied.

Amy backed out of his embrace, walking awkwardly backwards.  “I’ve got to go.  Umm..yes, I need to leave.  Now.  Ok, I’m going.” Amy gasped as she tried to clumsily grab her bag.

Barry looked at her and smiled.  “Am I still on your shit list?”

“What? No…I mean yes. Yes!  What?  Umm…I haven’t decided.  Listen I need to go.”  She ran out of Kripke’s office and closed the door behind her.    She leaned against the wall in the hallway gasping for air.  What had just happened?  The words Barry had just told her were running through her head. Kiss every inch of her body?  What?  Kripke has feelings for her?  But what about Sheldon?  She loved Sheldon.   Sheldon was her boyfriend.  But why was her heart racing so badly?

 

**A/N:   Well Barry has made it clear as day to Amy that he wants her, but what about her dear boyfriend Sheldon?  Will he step up to the plate, or try to keep her at arms length.  How does Amy feel about all of this?  Will she be interested?  Stay tuned!  Thanks for all the reviews!**


	9. Chapter 9

Sheldon was sitting in his spot at the apartment staring off into space.  He was just sitting there, looking ahead blankly, cracking his knuckles once in a while.  He looked pale, sad and tired.  Leonard had been trying to talk to his friend on the car ride home and since they got back home but he remained silent, which was odd for the usually verbose physicist.  Leonard finally called Penny over to see if she could get through to him.

Leonard turned to Penny.  “I don’t know what to do…he’s been like this for the last two hours since we came home.  He hasn’t told me what’s wrong, but I have a feeling this has to do with Kripke’s paper.  I’m not sure what to make him.  Tea?  Cocoa?  Hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks?”

“I’m upset, Leonard.  Tea.” Sheldon muttered.

“Tea!  Ok, now we are getting somewhere.”  Leonard pulled down the tea box and set it on the kitchen island.  He started going through the compartments.    “Now what kind of tea would you like?  There’s lemon zinger, chamomile, orange ginger  –“

“I can’t drink tea Leonard!  Amy and I drink tea together.” Sheldon snapped.

Leonard shook his head and looked at Penny exasperated.  “A little help here please…” he begged.

Penny went and sat down beside Sheldon on the couch.  “Sweetie, can you please tell us what happened that got you so upset” she said softly.

Sheldon sighed and looked sadly at Penny.  How could he tell them that Amy wanted a break?  That she was so upset by the rumour and his non-action that she didn’t want to be with him anymore?  That she thought he didn’t care.

Sheldon cleared his throat and began.  “Do you remember when I was working with Kripke, and I didn’t correct his assumption that I was distracted by all the sex I was having with Amy.  You know how that rumour blown up all over campus…”

Penny and Leonard looked at each other and nodded.

“Well, Amy found out.  And she was not pleased to say the least.” Sheldon said sadly.

“Did Kripke tell her?  I always knew that guy was a rat.” Penny said disgustedly.  Leonard sat down on the chair beside Sheldon.

“Kripke just recently found out that it wasn’t true.  I don’t know who told him the truth, but he confronted me in my office about it.  We were arguing, and Amy overhead part of our conversation.” Sheldon said quietly.  He turned towards Penny.  “Penny,  even though you’ve had a multitude of sexual partners,  can you imagine back to a time when you were a little more virtuous?” Sheldon began.

“Sheldon!  That’s rude.  Don’t talk to Penny that way” Leonard interrupted.

Penny was shaking her head incredulously at Sheldon.  “Wait…wait.  I want to hear Sheldon out.  You are treading water here buddy.  Choose your words carefully.  Continue with your question.”

“I was just wondering, if it would bother you, if people at work knew that you and Leonard are having sex.”

“How I think about it, and how Amy will think about it are not going to be the same thing.” Penny replied.

“Well obviously.  Amy has not bedded half of Nebraska.” Sheldon snarked.  Penny grabbed a throw cushion and smacked Sheldon with it.  He yelped and launched back.

“Excuse me!  That is not true!  And neither is that stupid calculation you did about my number of sexual partners.” Penny exclaimed.

“My math is never wrong.” Sheldon stated.

“Oh I don’t know about that.  Maybe we should ask Leslie Winkle about your math mistake.  And wasn’t your element a bit of a math error too?” Leonard teased.  Sheldon threw him a dirty look.

“Well, your math was wrong in this case buddy.  Listen, do you want my help or not?” Penny said sternly.

“Yes, I want your help.” Sheldon sighed.

“Ok, well for me, it wouldn’t really upset me if people knew that Leonard and I were having sex.  I think that sex is a normal way that couples express their love for each other.  What I wouldn’t like, is if people I knew where talking about all the details of it.  That’s personal, and I wouldn’t want that kind of stuff to be peoples casual “work talk”.  But I am coming at it as someone who is having sex with my boyfriend.  I think Amy would have a totally different take.”

“How so?” he asked.

“Well you two have never had sex.  And it’s a big deal to Amy.  You know, you talking so nonchalantly about your sex life, make it sound like it’s really not a big deal to you.  That you don’t care.  You know she’s pretty private about that stuff.  Look how upset she got when we were teasing you with the love spell when we played D&D.  That was just among friends.  Now imagine how she would feel with random people at Caltech hearing about your sex life.”

“Well it was never meant to come out.  Really.  I didn’t want this rumour spread around, I just didn’t have a good excuse for Kripke, and it just seemed easier to go along with his suggestion, than to think of something new myself.”  Sheldon said sadly.  “Amy is really distraught.  She is super upset with me.  She said that I should have stopped the rumour right from the start.  She doesn’t think I respect her.”  Sheldon’s voice started breaking up a bit.  “She wants a break from me.  She told me not to contact her.” He said in a whisper.

“What?  Are you serious?” Penny gasped softly.  She never thought in a million years that Amy would ever want to break up with Sheldon, or go on a “break”.  She seemed so totally devoted to him.   Penny looked up at Sheldon, who was leaning forward with his head between his hands looking down.   She was stunned with this revelation.  She probably needed a good talk with her bestie to help put things in perspective.  Penny grabbed her phone to quickly text Amy.

**Amy, I just heard from Sheldon what happened.  Are you ok?  Do you want to talk about it?  Sheldon is pretty broken up about everything.   We could do an impromptu girl’s night and talk everything through?**

Penny slipped her phone back into her pocket and looked at Sheldon, who looked completely broken on the couch.

“Sweetie, I don’t know what to tell you.  All you can do is apologize to Amy, and tell her how you really feel about her.  She needs to know that you know?   You can’t assume that she just understands what’s going on in that crazy head of yours.  I know that she was upset that you blew some idea of hers off.  And now this.  I can kind of see where she is coming from, both actions are not really considerate of her feelings.  It looks like you don’t care.”  Penny looked at him worriedly.  “You do care right?”

“Of course I care.  I just don’t like to broadcast my personal feelings for the group to know. But yes, I care about Amy very much.” Sheldon said abruptly.

“You can’t broadcast your feelings for your girlfriend of four years to even her, but have no problem broadcasting the sordid details of your made up sex life?  What do you think this looks like to Amy?  I can see why she is really upset.” Leonard said.

Sheldon continued looking down, he felt terrible about everything that happened.  The last thing in the world that he wanted was to hurt Amy or to make her upset.

Penny’s phone buzzed.  She pulled it out and looked at it.

**I am not doing ok.  I learned everyone at Caltech was having a good laugh about my “sex life” and my boyfriend and not one of my friends could be bothered to tell me.  Clearly, the laugh is on me, because I expected a lot more from my boyfriend and best friend.  But I see where the loyalties lie, and it’s not with me.  Have a good evening.**

“Sheldon, does Amy know we all knew about this?” Penny questioned.

Sheldon sighed.  “Amy asked me to be totally honest with her about everything.  She asked me straight out, who knew about the rumour.  Well I told you and Leonard, so I told her that.  I’m not going to lie to her.”

“Oh now he doesn’t lie.” Penny said annoyed.  “Amy is upset with all of us now too.  I’m going to have to try to sort this out tomorrow.”

The events of the day were quickly catching up with Sheldon.  He couldn’t turn his brain off, thoughts were flashing back and forth.  He needed some time alone to think things through.  Leonard and Penny had given him lots to ponder about.  Sheldon got up, and started walking out of the living room.  “I think I’m going to head to bed.” he said.

“Are you sure you’re ok?  You can work things out with Amy, I know you can.  She cares about you a lot.  She would never leave you for anyone else.” Leonard said softly.

Sheldon looked at him startled, and then quickly walked to his room.

* * *

Sheldon sat on his bed looking at a photo of Amy.  The last thing Leonard said shook him to the core.  She would never leave him for anyone else.  But she could if she wanted to….  She was smart, beautiful, funny, any man would be lucky to date her.  But would she leave him?  The thought must have crossed her mind, it must be crossing her mind right now.  She wanted a break.  She didn’t know if she wants to be with him.  He could lose her for real.    Sheldon felt panic start to overtake him.  Kripke and her had seemed to be spending lots of time together.  But she couldn’t like that idiot could she?  No, that was preposterous!  Her standards were much higher.  After all she was dating him, wasn’t she?

Him.  Sheldon Lee Cooper.

He was the one who did the cha cha with her.  He was the one who took care of her when she was drunk.  He was the one who she confided in, laughed with, sparred with.    He was the one who nursed her back to health when she was ill.  He was the one who cuddled her when she was upset.  He was the one who sang with her during boyfriend/girlfriend sing along nights.  He was the one who bought her a beautiful tiara….

But he was also the one that created the need for the tiara, he thought sadly.  The words she had said during their last few meetings were flooding his head.    That he was dismissive, arrogant, that he didn’t value their relationship….that he didn’t respect her…that he didn’t care.

How could he make her feel this way, when it was the last thing he wanted her to feel.  He knew that he could be overconfident, bordering on cocky.  But he had to be.   While he had always had a thirst for knowledge and unrivaled academic success, his life socially and emotionally had been a disaster.  His life as a child at home was chaotic; his drunk father scared him, his brother and sister constantly left him out, or were torturing him, his over religious mother saw his “science” as anti-Christian.    He was always so much younger than all his classmates.  He didn’t have any friends in his class.  It was so lonely and isolating.  He had built up wall to protect himself.  He wasn’t going to allow people to hurt him any longer.  He needed to be smarter and better than them all….it was his protective layer.

Life had gotten better.  He had made a group of friends that cared about him.  But he still wouldn’t let anyone see the real him.  The one that was scared.  The one that wasn’t so confident.  The one that didn’t know everything.   Everything changed when he met Amy.  His walls remained up, but she was different…so different.  He felt like he could be himself around her.  She liked that he was different.   She grew up in an environment somewhat similar to him.  Misunderstood, brilliant…a bit of a social outcast.  She was blunt and to the point.  It was a point that he loved about her, and it exasperated Penny to no end.  She was sharp, top of her field , and kept him on his toes.  She was funny…beautiful.  Sheldon smiled to himself…she didn’t even know that she was beautiful which was so endearing.  He needed to know what she thought about things, he needed her opinion.  She was breaking down his walls, and it scared him.  She was going to see the real him.  Would she still like him so much, if she saw that he was not so confident?  That he was scared and unsure….

He shook his head.  The way he was acting was hurting her.  And she was the last person he ever wanted to hurt.  His arrogance…his bravado…the things that protected him all these years, was hurting the one person that he lo-.

Sheldon stopped himself.  He knew in his heart it was true.  He loved her.  He loved Amy Farrah Fowler.  He knew that ever since his train trip, but had been too scared to tell her.  She had asked him what he had thought about on the train trip, and he had avoided the question.  His thoughts on the trip were all of her.

He pulled out his laptop from his table in his room, and opened it up.  He opened a folder that contained all his files, photos and writing from his train trip.  She had no idea how consumed he was with thoughts of her during his trip.  He couldn’t stop thinking about her at all.  He had looked at all her pictures a million times.  He thought about their last conversation and how upset she had looked when he dismissed the idea of them living together and their future together.  He tethered his phone to his laptop on the train, when he couldn’t get Wi-Fi and started Googling her.  Anything and everything he could find about her…

He read all of her papers that she had published.  He hacked into Harvard’s server’s and read her university papers.  They were all brilliant and innovative.  He found her blog where she wrote about her hobbies and interests.  He found comments she made on various forums around the net.  And then he found her fanfiction….

He opened the word document that he had copied it into.  He had read the fanfiction a total of sixty three times so far.  He had an eidetic memory, he didn’t need to re-read it.  But he wanted to…he needed to.  The fanfiction said what Amy hadn’t said to him.  That she was in love with him also.  The she wanted him.  That she desired him.

She had blended her love for Little House on the Prairie into the story with her love for her Time Travelling physicist…him.  Her characters were not so hidden in that they were named Amelia and Cooper.  The time travel aspects of her story were completely wrong.  He would need to sit down with her one day and go over the fundamentals of time travel and their effect on space and time.  But that was besides the point….

Sheldon scrolled down to page 35.  Amelia and Cooper were working in the barn to get his time machine working, and the machine had finally hummed to life.

_Coopers eyes lit up as he saw the first lights start blinking on his time machine.  He couldn’t believe it.  They had done it!  They had gotten it working.  He had thought it was impossible.  Now they needed to test the calibration of the instrumentation.   Cooper turned around as he heard soft sniffle.  Amelia had her back turned to him, and was trying to slip past him towards the barn door._

_“Amelia?” he grabbed her hand._

_Amelia looked up at Cooper, her eyes were filled with tears.  She quickly wiped them away.   “I’m sorry, I’m just excited for you.  I know you must be looking forward to going home” she said softly._

_Cooper looked at her troubled.  He knew exactly how she felt, because he felt the same way.  He was excited that he could go home, but what about Amelia?  He had never felt a connection so strong to someone before.  These past two weeks they done everything together; worked, played, laughed, cried…  He didn’t want to leave her.  He didn’t want to let her go._

_Cooper pulled Amelia into his arms.  He ran his smooth porcelain hand down her tear stained cheek.  He stared at her with his piercing blue eyes. “Amelia…I think I’ve fallen in –“_

_“Stop Cooper.  We can’t.  You are from your time, I’m from mine.  It doesn’t make sense” she said softly._

_“What doesn’t make sense is for us to be apart.  Maybe it was destiny that I was sent here” he whispered._

_“Destiny?  That doesn’t sound like you.  I thought you believed in science only.” Amelia said._

_“Some things are beyond science.” Cooper said hungrily.   He pulled Amelia close to his body, his hand wrapped around her small waist.  He lowered his head and gently kissed her.  She felt a bolt of electricity pass through her body.  She responded to his kiss, and soon they were kissing passionately.  He nibbled her lip and let his tongue lightly sweep against hers.  Amelia gasped at the sensation.  She responded in kind.  Soon she was lost in the sensation.  She felt like she was drowning in a sea of emotions…in passion…in love._

_Cooper led her over to a soft pile of hay, and gently lay her on it. He began kissing her gently, trailing kisses down her long slim neck.  “Cooper, this is wrong.  We are not married.  We can’t do this” Amelia protested gently._

_“This can’t be wrong.  I’ve never felt something feel more right in my life.  I love you Amelia….I want you...I need you…” Cooper exclaimed.  He stopped and gazed into her eyes.  “Do you love me Amelia?   I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do”_

_Amelia heart was beating wildly in her chest.  She loved him…more than he could ever know.  She knew society would frown upon this, but she didn’t care.  This might be her only chance at being with her true love.  She was in love.  She wanted to give herself to him._

_She responded by pulling his head towards her and giving him a long passionate kiss.  He smiled and kissed her back.  His hands started running all over her body, down her arms, her back, then slowly he ran his hands around her breasts.  She smiled shyly at him, and slowly started to unbutton his shirt. Cooper sat up and quickly took his shirt off, and went back to gazing at Amelia.  He took the shirt as a cue, and undid the buttons of her frock starting up at her neck and working his way down.  He passionately started kissing her neck, and moving down her now bare chest.  He took his hand and gently cupped –_

“Hey Sheldon?” Leonard knocked as he opened Sheldon’s bedroom door.  Leonard looked over at Sheldon, who was lying on his bed with his laptop on his lap.  His face was completely red and flushed. “Buddy, are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” Sheldon said quickly, as he slammed the laptop shut.  “I didn’t say come in.  You know it’s customary to knock, and then wait for someone to say come in.  What if I was naked?”

“Ha ha…I’m not even sure you get naked to shower” Leonard joked.  Sheldon frowned at him.

“Well anyways…I just wanted to check if you are ok.  You looked pretty upset when you left the living room.  I just wanted to tell you, that I think you and Amy can work things out.  I’ve never seen two people more suited for each other.” Leonard said softly.

“Do you really think so?” Sheldon asked.

“Yeah, I do.”  Leonard smiled at his friend.  “Good night Sheldon.”

“Good night.” he replied.  Leonard left this bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Sheldon lay back, thinking about what he just read.  He loved Amy’s story.  He wanted to be like the Cooper in her story, confident and in control.  He wanted to do all the things she wrote about and more.

He sat up with a new resolve.  He was going to show Amy that he loved her.  He needed her to know the truth…and if Kripke thought he can steal her away from him, he has another thing coming.  Nobody messes with Sheldon Lee Cooper.  Nobody.

 

**A/N:  So up until now, Sheldon has been kind of an jerk in this story, but I wanted to show the other side of Sheldon.   He’s finally admitted to himself that he does love her.  But how will he show her now?  Will he romance her off her feet, and will it get a tad screwed up Cooper style?  And what about Kripke?  Will he try to make a move on Amy, now that her and Sheldon are apart?  Stay tuned, and thank-you so much for the reviews!**


	10. Chapter 10

Penny, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Bernadette and Raj all sat down at their table at the Cheesecake Factory.  There was one empty chair – the one for Amy.    Penny glanced around the table and then at Amy’s empty chair.  Something was up, she could feel it in her gut.

Penny looked at her phone with concern.  “You guys, don’t you think it’s weird that Amy asked us all to meet here?”

“I didn’t really think too much of it actually.  I mean we haven’t gotten together in a group to go out for dinner in ages, I was pleasantly surprised.” Bernadette replied.

Penny gazed at the sea foam green walls of the restaurant and sighed.  “I wish she would have picked a different restaurant.  This place is bringing back bad memories of waitressing.”

Sheldon looked up from his menu.  “Did forgetting everybody’s orders give you bad memories also?   I thought it was just me.”

Penny gave Sheldon a dirty look. “Anyways…I don’t have a good feeling about this dinner.  The last text I got from Amy was pretty angry, and then the next one I get from her was inviting us all out for dinner.  Something isn’t adding up.”

“I agree.  Something seems a bit off.” Leonard said.

Bernadette frowned and looked at Penny.  “Why did Amy send you an angry text?  Did you two get into a fight?”

Penny looked pointedly at Sheldon.  “This is all Sheldon’s fault.  Amy found out about that rumour that her and Sheldon were boinking like bunnies was going around the Caltech campus.  So she’s understandably pissed at Sheldon, and all of us by association because we knew and didn’t tell her.”

“Excuse me, but I didn’t spread that rumour around campus.  Kripke did.  But Amy was right, I should have stopped the rumour right then.  I’m hoping that if I apologize to her, she will know that I am truly sorry.  I just wish I knew who told Kripke all of our personal information” Sheldon said.

Howard started coughing uncontrollably, choking on his drink.  Bernadette rubbed his back “Howie, are you ok?” she said concerned. 

Howard looked nervously at Raj. “Yeah…yeah…I think my drink just went down the wrong pipe.”   He pulled out his phone and texted Raj.

**Don’t you dare say anything.**

His phone immediately buzzed back.

**What do you take me for?  An Idiot?**

“Oh Good!  She’s here!” Sheldon exclaimed as he hopped up from his seat.  He rushed over to the entrance of the restaurant where Amy had entered.

“Amy!  I am so happy to see you.  When you said you didn’t want to hear from me until you contacted me, I was worried that this may go on indefinitely, and you know how I am about things being open ended.  I wanted to tell you how much I missed you, and how I’ve thought a lot about the things you told me –“

“Sheldon” Amy interrupted.

“Yes?” he said earnestly.

“I’m actually not ready to talk.  I just called everyone for dinner to clear the air.  Everyone seems ok with speaking so freely about our personal business, and I’m not ok with it.  Maybe I should have never opened up so much with them, because it really came back to bite me.” Amy said coldly.

“But Amy, are you sure you want to get into all of this with them –“

“Let’s just go sit down.” Amy replied.

The group was sitting around the table laughing and talking.   Penny looked up at Amy nervously, as she pulled out her chair from across from her and sat down.  Sheldon while previously looking elated when Amy had walked in, now had a look of nervousness on his face.  He pulled out his chair beside Amy, and quietly sat down, never taking his eyes off of her.

“Hi Ames” Penny said softly.

Amy looked up with her with a hurt look on her face.  “Hey” she said softly.  Amy picked up her menu, but gazed around the table.  Raj was laughing with Bernadette.  Howard was stealing glances at Amy, and then looking back at the conversation between Bernie and Raj.  Penny and Leonard were sitting quietly at the table.  She could feel Sheldon’s eye’s staring at her from her peripheral vision.

Amy set down her menu and cleared her throat.  The group all stopped talking and looked up at her.  Amy began.  “Well there is no point in beating around the bush.   I called you all out here for dinner tonight for a specific purpose.  I became painfully aware of a rumour that was going around Caltech for the last number of months about Sheldon and I’s crazy sex life.  While I’m sure you all found the rumour quite humorous, I do not.  I do not like my personal business being broadcast out to the world.  I thought as my close friends AND boyfriend would know that about me, and would extend me the courtesy of letting me know.  But not one of you could be bothered to tell me.”

“Amy, this is all my fault.  You are right, I should have put a stop to the rumour as soon as Kripke suggested it, keeping our private business private.  I’m really sorry for not thinking about how this affected you.  It was selfish of me, and I am truly sorry for hurting you.”  Sheldon looked at her earnestly.

Amy was taken aback.  Sheldon hated…HATED admitting he was wrong, and apologizing was a whole ball of wax entirely.   But he had just apologized, in front of all of their friends.  Was this a grand gesture for show or was he truly being sincere?   Was Sheldon just he trying to make things go back to his preferred homeostatic state or had he truly listened to what she was trying to tell him the other day?

“Sheldon –“ Amy started.

“Amy, I’m really sorry about how things played out” Penny interrupted.  “I was just in a bit of a difficult position.  I mean Sheldon told me what happened, it was obvious that he didn’t want you to know.  You are both my friends, I really didn’t know what to do.  I felt like if I told you, I was betraying Sheldon’s confidence.  And if I didn’t tell you, I wasn’t being a good friend to you.  In the end, I thought this rumour would blow over quickly, and it wasn’t really hurting anyone per say, so I decided to keep quiet.    I did feel bad though…” Penny trailed off.

“It wasn’t hurting anyone?  What about me?   My professional reputation is very important to me.  I want to be thought of for my work as published neurobiologist.  Not as some sex deviant girlfriend of one Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper!”  Amy ranted.

Raj laughed as he sipped his grasshopper.  “Don’t worry, even with that rumour flying around, I don’t think anyone thinks of you that way.”

Amy turned to Raj, her eyes blazing.  Howard looked nervously at Raj.  “Raaaaj” he hissed cautiously.

“I think of you that –“ Sheldon started.

“Excuse me Raj.  You always seem to have a lot to say don’t you.  A little TOO much.  I know it was you and Howard that told Barry about our relationship agreement.  That we are both virgins” Amy sputtered.

“What?  Why on God’s green earth would you tell Kripke that?” Sheldon shot out at Raj and Howard.  Bernie was glaring at Howard.

“It wasn’t our fault.  It was Kripke’s.  He got us drunk and pumped us for information.” Howard protested.  Sheldon glowered at the thought of Kripke trying to get more information about them for his own benefit.  Kripke’s comment about making Amy purr was burned in his brain.

“Oh is that all it takes.  A few drinks, and you spill everyone’s private business?  How would you feel if I did that?”  Amy grabbed her glass of wine and took a sip.  “Oooh I had some wine.  Did you know that Raj was secretly hoping that Bernie would turn down Howard’s marriage proposal so he could move in on Bernie and betray his very own best friend?  That he wrote poems about Bernadette playing his “clarinet”.  I guess that’s not totally out of character for you…you did hook up with Penny and betray Leonard’s friendship!”

Penny’s eyes widened as she saw the situation start to explode.  “Oh fuuuuu –“  She put her head between her hands to stop seeing the inevitable meltdown that was going to take place.

“What??” Howard glared over at Raj.

“What the hell is this all about Raj?” Bernie asked at the same time, cracking her knuckles.

“Hey it wasn’t just me that spilled the beans.  Howard did too!” Raj protested.

“Actually, you were the one who told Kripke that they were virgins, not me.” Howard retorted.  “What the hell is this about you liking Ber-“

“I didn’t see you keeping quiet when you were joking with me about their “hot” relationship” Raj diverted.

Amy slammed her hand against the table.  “See!  This is exactly what I mean.  You guys have no problems my relationship being your little joke.  I’m sick of being the joke.  I hate it.  HATE IT!!  How do you think it makes me feel to hear this?  Do you think I don’t have any feelings at all?  Raj you saying that nobody could possibly think of me that way.  It just rolls of your tongue so effortlessly.  That you two can so easily laugh at my “pathetic” relationship.  I thought you guys were my friends.  I can see it clearly now though. “ Amy stared at the group.  “ Not one of you had my back.  You all had Sheldon’s back.  I thought we were all friends, but you are Sheldon’s friends, and I am just his pathetic unattractive girlfriend” Amy said angrily.

“Whoah…Amy.  That is not true at all.” Penny interjected.

“Maybe this is all my fault.  I should have never opened up to you guys.  The story is always the same….I think I make friends, but they are just using me as a stupid JOKE.  Amy always loses.  I’m so happy that you think that thought of me being sexual is unfathomable.  It’s great that you all think that Sheldon and I’s relationship is worthy of your mockery.”

Penny, Leonard, Bernadette, Howard and Raj all began speaking loudly at once.

“Raj how could you –“

“Your Clarinet?  What the Hell?”

“Don’t you dare talk about hooking up with Penny again –“

“How could you do that to my Howie?”

“I didn’t sleep with Raj!”

“Everybody please stop arguing” Sheldon yelled.  He turned towards Amy.  “Don’t worry about what these idiots say, half the time they are spewing nonsense.  We are the ones in this relationship, not them.  And I can say with conviction, that I don’t think our relationship is a joke.  As for you being thought of sexually….well ummm..that is something I want to talk to you about in private.  Now.”

“Private?  Oh didn’t you know….private doesn’t exist in this group.  Do they want to hear us negotiate more intimacy into our relationship?  Up our kissing time minutes?  Amend when and where we can hold hands?  Let’s give them more fodder for their ridicule.”  Amy turned to Raj.  “I’ll have you know that not everybody thinks of me as some sort of sexless being.  Even though that is the popular opinion amongst my friends and boyfriend.” Amy sputtered.

“Oh we don’t think of you as sexless…that would be Sheldon” Raj replied

“Not helping!” Leonard muttered shaking his head.

“There are men out there that see me as a desirable woman.” Amy whispered.  Sheldon’s ears turned red, as he looked at Amy concerned.

“Amy” he whispered pulling her aside.    “We need to talk now.  I’ve been remiss on telling you how I really feel. Your desirability is -”

“I don’t want to be here anymore” Amy said wiping a tear from her eye.   “This was a bad idea.  I wanted to confront you all for not having my back, but I just feel worse than I did before.   I need to get away from everybody.”

“Amy please don’t go.  Not until we have a chance to talk.” Sheldon said urgently.

“No…no…not tonight.  I just can’t do it.  I’m emotionally spent.” Amy said sadly.  She grabbed her purse and walked out of the restaurant.  The group looked at each other silently.  Sheldon looked at the entrance of the restaurant sadly.  He hadn’t gotten the chance to tell Amy how he really felt about her.  He just hoped that it wasn’t too late.

 

**A/N:  So sorry about posting this chapter so late!  Life has definitely gotten in the way…I moved houses, things have been total chaos!  Big big things are coming next chapter.  Please stay tuned.  No long wait for the next chapter…it’s already written!  Thanks!  I appreciate your reviews!**


	11. Chapter 11

Amy stared at the large dark oak door looming in front of her.  What was she doing here?   He was no better than the others was he?  He spread the rumour about her around campus…what did that say about him?  But he apologized to her right off the bat, he filled her inbox and voicemail with more apologies.  He did seem genuinely sorry and concerned about her feelings.  He wanted to know how she was doing with everything that had happened.  He had even apologized for possibly making her uncomfortable with what he had said in his office.  He told her that he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but he didn’t take his words back she noticed.  She needed a friend right now, one that truly cared about her, and his actions showed that he did really care.  Amy tentatively knocked on the door.

The door opened, and a shocked looking Barry Kripke was standing behind it.  “Amy?” he said, sounding kind of stunned.  “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, I should have called.  I just needed to get away from my so called friends, and I didn’t know where else to go.“

“No…no.. It’s ok.  I’m glad you are here.  You are always welcome.”  Kripke ushered her into his apartment.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kripke asked her softly as he took her coat.

“No…not really” she replied quietly.   Amy looked around the room.  His apartment reminded her a lot of his office.  There were lots of personal photos, books, and photography covering the walls.  He also had lots of bookshelves filled with books.   The shelves were filled with classics, fantasy, biographies, thrillers, true crime.  It seemed he had a mix of everything.  The back section of his living room of his apartment looked like a little electronics lab. There was a small robot that he looked like he was designing.

“Cool…” Amy said softly as she gazed at the robot on his work table.

“Oh I’m coming up with my next entry for my attack robot.  This one has razor claws….although a bitch to build.  I’ve got a few battle wounds as proof.”  Kripke held up his hands which were covered in multiple cuts of various lengths and depths.

“Ouch…does it hurt much?” Amy asked concerned.

“Oooh…just when I type, cook, clean, drive, shower, think.  So uhh..yeah I guess all the time.” Kripke laughed.

Amy looked at Kripke guiltily.  “I’m so sorry to interrupt your evening.  I was just having a really bad night, and wanted to see a friendly face.   Were you going out?  I don’t want to wreck your plans.”

“My plans…well you’re looking at it for tonight” he said pointing to the couch and a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.   “I was just going to stay home and watch a movie.  I just started watching Starship Troopers.  Have you seen it?”

“Oh boy…another guy into SciFi.   No, I haven’t seen that one.”

“Well, you hang out with our type…it comes with the territory.  I think you might like this one…it’s really terrible.” Barry laughed.

“Terrible?…then why do you watch it?”

Kripke patted the sofa, motioning Amy to come sit down.  He got up and got a bowl, and opened the fridge.  “Well, I’ve got beer, water, and soda.   I could open a bottle of wine if you’d like?”

“Oh, a soda will be fine.  Thanks.” Amy replied.

He grabbed a soda and the bowl and returned to the couch.  He filled Amy’s bowl with popcorn and gave her the bowl and the pop.

“So why this movie again?” Amy asked curiously.   “Especially if you said it’s terrible?”

“Well the book wasn’t so terrible.  But the movie…my God...do you know the term…so bad, it’s good?  This movie epitomizes that.  Lets just say the book didn’t translate to screen too well.”

Barry grabbed the remote, and restarted the movie from the beginning.  The movie began with a group of high school kids in Buenos Aires.  The human race had colonized many different planets in the universe and were currently at war with bug-looking aliens. 

They continued watching the movie, and then Amy burst out laughing.  “What the hell?”  She looked over at Kripke who was smiling at her.  “Are you serious?  They have a monitor the size of a movie screen in their school atrium, and everyone just goes up to the screen and pushes a button and it announces their grades in 800 size font in front of the whole school?”

“Wait for it…it gets better…” Kripke said.

_“Oh my god.. I got 95% in math.  I get to be a pilot!” Denise Richard’s character said._

Kripke and Amy both started laughing uncontrollably.  “This is so stupid” Amy laughed.

“It’s so bad, you can’t stop watching can you?” Barry chuckled.  Amy smiled over at him.  He was right, this movie was so bad that it was good.  This was exactly what she needed after tonight’s gong show at the Cheesecake Factory.

They continued watching, snickering together as the movie progressed.  Barry was gingerly eating his popcorn, but then let out a loud yelp at his last handful.

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked as she grabbed the remote and hit pause.

“Well the salt from the popcorn is getting into all the cuts on my hands.  It hurts, but it’s popcorn.  I can’t stop eating it.  I am so obsessed with popcorn.”

“Do you have any latex surgical gloves?” Amy enquired.

“Why would I have latex gloves at home?  I just have the gloves for cleaning the toilet, but there is no way I am touching those…”

“I have surgical gloves, a biohazard box, all sorts of goodies at home.  Well…you never know when you have to bring work home right?”

“Are you telling me that you’ve brought a brain home to work on?”

“Yeah…well…a brain may have drifted home with me once or twice.  But you’re in luck.  I have a spare pair in my purse!” Amy got up and grabbed her bag that was by the door.  Kripke was looking at her with fascination.  Amy Farrah Fowler never failed to surprise him.  She pulled out a pair of magenta surgical gloves and handed it to Kripke.

“Should I even ask, why you have surgical gloves in your purse?” he asked.

“Well Sheldon –“ Amy stopped herself.  “It’s just good to have you know, in case you need to touch something that you might not want to otherwise.”

“But they are light purple.  I look kind of girly in these” he protested.

“Sorry I left my manly dark blue set in the lab” Amy laughed.  Kripke washed his hands dried them and then put the purple gloves on.  He resumed eating his popcorn. 

“Phhft!!...Yuck…” he sputtered as he put down the popcorn bowl.

“What’s wrong” Amy asked concerned.

“Nothing…nothing.   I just licked my fingers.  Habit I guess.  That was a little too “latexy” for my liking”

“You know, they say that finger sucking is a sign of sexual frustration.” Amy stated in a matter of fact tone.

Barry smiled at her.  Was she flirting with him?  He leaned in towards her. “Well is that so, Dr. Fowler.  Let me ask you then, do you suck your fingers?”

Amy looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights, her eyes opened extra wide.  She hadn’t even really realized what she was saying.  She knew Kripke had feelings for her.  What was she doing?  She needed to change the topic fast.  She grabbed the remote.  “Let’s keep watching the movie ok?”  She hit play and leaned back into the couch.

She could feel Kripke’s eyes on her, but eventually he went back to watching the movie.  Her heart was racing.  What was she doing there in his apartment?  With a man who confessed that he would kiss every inch of her body given the opportunity.  She had never had a man say something so intimate to her before…it made her feel good.  Sexy…like a real desirable woman.   She stole a glance at him as he watched the TV.  He really was an attractive guy.   His light blue eyes reflected the flickering lights from the movie, he had a slight five o-clock shadow on his face.  He looked adorable sitting there with magenta gloves on.  Amy shook her head.   Where the hell was her mind drifting to?  Sheldon had actually been quite sweet tonight…well in a Sheldon way.   But Kripke made her feel different. When he was saying those things in his office, he almost seemed hungry…for her.  It excited and scared her at the same time.  Well she couldn’t think this way.  It was wrong.  She needed to focus back on the movie.

She turned to the screen and began watching again.  Soon she had become engrossed in the film.  She started shaking her head and laughing at the stupidity again.

“Why are they flying across the universe to do hand-to-hand combat with large looking insects.  Why don’t they just bomb them from the safety of the spaceship?”

“Well, that would make a little too much sense wouldn’t it.   Of course they would fly millions of miles away, to land on the enemies home turf, to do combat on land that they are unfamiliar with, where they are greatly undersized and outnumbered.  That’s great military thinking there” Barry said.

Amy laughed and continued watching the movie.  Kripke looked over at her.  Why had she come over tonight?  She had alluded to some problems with her friends, but didn’t really get into it.  Not that he was complaining.  He liked having her in his home, it felt nice…it felt right.  She was so easy to talk to…to laugh with.  He had no idea what her and Cooper’s status was.  It couldn’t be good if she was here in his apartment given Sheldon was quite clear about his hatred for him. 

She had her feet resting on the coffee table, she was wearing gray tights and a skirt that showed off her shapely legs.  Her long chestnut hair looked silky, he wondered if it felt as silky as it looked.  Waves of the intoxicating smell of jasmine were coming from her.  Was it her hair or her perfume?  She was laughing uncontrollably watching this movie.  He loved her laugh..it was so cute.

_Neil Patrick Harris walks up to the bug brain and holds his hand against it.  He uses his psychic abilities to feel what the bug brain is feeling.  “It’s Afraid!” he yells out.  The crowd cheers.  The aliens battle is lost.  The chief bug brain is afraid._

Barry and Amy both burst at laughing. 

“It’s afraid!” Amy giggled.

“It’s AFRAID” Barry echoed with a booming voice.  They both fell into a fit of giggles until they were both crying from laughing so hard.

Barry reached over and clicked the TV off.  He took off his gloves and wiped the tears from his eyes.  He visibly flinched from the salty tears making contact with the cuts on his hands.  Amy looked over at him concerned.  He looked like he was in a lot of pain.

“Maybe you should put some cream on your hands.  It might soothe them a little bit.  Do you have any?”

“Well…I have a body spray scented lotion.  I think that might just sting more if I put it on” he said.

Amy reached for her purse and pulled out a tube of hand cream.  “This one is non-scented, and it’s really good.  My hands get dry from washing them so often in the lab.  Here give me your hands” Amy gestured.

Amy took Barry’s hands in hers.  She gently squeezed a small amount of cream into the palm of his hand, and gently massaged it into his cut up hand.  He winced slightly but was just staring intently at her.   She started in the middle of his palm and massaged in slow circles applying light pressure until the cream was completely absorbed.   She then slowly made her ways to his fingers, she gently stroked her hand along each digit making sure that each one had been moisturized completely.  She heard Barry make a slight noise and she looked up at him.

He was staring at her, with a look that she had never experienced before.  His light blue eyes had darkened, his pupils were dilated, he was looking at her with a look of pure magnetism…of pure desire.

“Barry –“ she started.

Kripke leaned over and took her face into his tender hands, and gently pressed his lips onto Amy’s mouth.  His lips touched hers with a feather touch, igniting a feeling of unbridled passion deep within him.  It was a feeling he had never felt with any woman before.  He leaned in closer, intoxicated by her touch.  He then slowly and gently sucked her lower lip.  Amy gasped at the sensation, stunned at what was happening.  Barry gently ran his tongue along her lower lip and then slowly flicked it lightly against her own tongue.  What was happening?  She felt like she was drowning in the feeling.  She had never felt a kiss like this before, but her body was responding as she lightly ran her tongue along his as they deepened the kiss.  She felt completely lost to the sensation, the heat..the desire.    Barry made a slight noise, and Amy’s mind snapped back into reality.  This was wrong, this wasn’t right at all.

Amy shoved Barry back.  “What are you doing?” she gasped.

“Amy, I’m sorry, I got caught up in the moment.  I thought you felt it too..” Barry began his eyes still wild.

“I’m not single!  I’m still with Sheldon…we are on a break.   I can’t be doing this.  This is wrong.  I can’t believe we kissed.  Oh my God….” Amy stuttered.

“You are still with Sheldon?  I was guessing that wasn’t the case, since you showed up at my apartment” Barry said quietly.  “You are an amazing kisser Amy….I don’t think it was just me that enjoyed that kiss”

Amy’s face flushed.  She felt so confused.  It felt good to have a man desire her, to kiss her with passion, but it also felt wrong.  Very wrong.  Something wasn’t right.  She knew what it was in her heart.  It was the fact that it wasn’t Sheldon.

“I’ve got to go.  I shouldn’t have come here.  I’m really sorry Barry.  I didn’t mean to lead you on.  I should have never let this happen” Amy said nervously.

“Amy, you don’t have to go…I’m sorry.  I didn’t know your situation.  Listen…I think we both feel something here –“

“I’m sorry Barry, I really need to leave.”  Amy grabbed her coat, and rushed to the door.  She quickly ran out the door and down to her car.  As she sat in the car, she gasped for air.  What had she done?  She didn’t mean to kiss Kripke.  Why did it feel so amazing, but at the same time so wrong?  What was she ever going to tell Sheldon…..

 

**A/N:  Oh no she didn’t…Oh yes she did!  I couldn’t resist.  They needed a hot kiss in this story!  But what is going to become of this.  Amy liked the kiss but knew it didn’t feel right because it wasn’t Sheldon.    What is Amy going to do now and how is Sheldon going to react?  Oh I totally ripped off mocking Starship Troopers from my own life.  My guy friends and I went to a midnight showing of the movie a long time ago, and we could not stop laughing.  Sooooo bad it was good!**


	12. Chapter 12

Amy entered her apartment, and quickly locked the door. She sat down on her couch and shivered. Her hands were still shaking. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Barry had kissed her. Kissed her. Not just kissed…french kissed her. Her first french kiss, to be honest. She put her shaking hands to her lips. What had she done? The kiss felt forbidden yet tantalizing at the same time. Truth be told she had been curious. Years of thinking about a french kiss, wondering what it would feel like…the sensation, the touch. She had imagined it so many times, but it was so different to experience it for real. In that moment she could feel all the passion, the longing radiating from Barry, and she felt like she was drowning in the feeling of being desired. Of being wanted.

Her first french kiss should have been a happy moment. The kiss felt good physically, but emotionally, she felt destroyed. She wanted that kiss to be with Sheldon, not Barry. She wanted to be in Sheldon's arms, not Barry's. The memories of her and Sheldon started to flood back in her mind. Their late night Skype chats and how they could talk for hours on end about anything and everything. Their night out dancing, and how he came back to her apartment where they had their first kiss. How her completely germ-phobe boyfriend took care of her when she had the flu, cooking for her, giving her medicine, even bathing her.

She leaned back on the couch and started thinking about their Valentine's weekend kiss. He had kissed her out of anger, to prove a point. But the kiss had changed, and they both knew it. The kiss started off tensely, but then she felt from Sheldon, what she had felt from Barry tonight; a sense of passion radiating off of him. She could feel that passion from Sheldon as he stepped into their kiss and pulled her close, his hands around her waist as he lengthened the kiss. She could feel the desire between them as they looked into each others eyes after the kiss. She felt amazing after that kiss, because it was a kiss from the man she loved.

Tears started streaming down her face. She loved him. Loved him. She was totally unabashedly, head over heels in love with him. And she let another man kiss her? Did she just destroy everything that they had built?

But what had they built? Did he even feel the same way that she did? In that moment, she felt that he felt the same way that she had. But what about afterwards? It seemed like they went back to how they were before, except for the stipulation that there be a date night kiss. She enjoyed the kisses but they didn't have that heat or passion that their Valentine's Day kiss had. Why were they so stagnated? Why were they in a holding pattern? Did Sheldon love her? Did he love her the same way that she loved him? What about his dismissiveness? What about letting this sex rumour spread just to save his ego? There was an inkling in her heart though, that she felt that he truly did love her. Underneath all of their problems, it felt true in her heart.

She needed to talk to Sheldon, but she was so scared. Should she tell him what happened between Barry and her. Sheldon wouldn't understand. He would be so hurt and angry. But she couldn't keep something like this from him. She needed to be honest with him, about what happened, and about her feelings.

Amy walked over to her computer and turned it on. She started up Skype, and waited for it to load. Her contacts list sprung onto the screen and she saw a green circle appear besides Sheldon's name. He was online. She felt like she was going to throw up, she was so nervous. It was now or never. She took her shaky hand and nervously clicked the video camera icon near Sheldon's name. Before she knew it, Sheldon's face filled her computer screen.

"Amy! I'm so glad that you skyped tonight. I was worried after you left the Cheesecake Factory. I wanted to phone or text you, but I wasn't sure if that violated your no contact request from earlier."

Amy stared at the screen. Sheldon was wearing a t-shirt that was royal blue in colour. She loved that t-shirt on him, because it made his eyes look even more intensely blue. She got lost staring into those blue eyes, that always drew her in.

"Centaurea Cyanus….Cornflower blue" she mumbled.

"Amy? Amy? Are you ok? Why are you mentioning a plant name?" Sheldon asked. He looked at the screen with a worried look.

Amy shook her head slightly to get herself out of her daze. "Sorry Sheldon". Amy sighed. "Listen, I really need to talk to you about something"

"I really want to talk to you too. I mentioned at the Cheesecake Factory, that I really need to speak with you. But I'd prefer if we could talk in person. I've thought so much about all the things we discussed the other day, and I have a lot that I need to tell you." Sheldon said urgently.

"I…ah…" Amy stuttered.

"Leonard is going to be away all day tomorrow, so if you'd like, we could meet at my apartment in the afternoon. Say 2 pm? You could stay over for dinner afterwards" Sheldon said with a slight hopeful smile.

Amy's heart was racing so fast. She could tell him now, or meet him tomorrow and tell him in person. No, this conversation was too important to have over Skype.

"I really need to talk to you too." Amy said sadly. "Ok, I will come over in the afternoon."

"Great! Amy, I think we will both feel much better after we see each other. I'll make some sourdough bread, and we can have it with clam chowder. It'll remind you of your Harvard days" Sheldon said happily.

Sheldon looked so hopeful and happy on the screen. It was ripping out her heart that she was going to upset him tomorrow.

"Please don't go through a lot of trouble for dinner. My appetite is really bad right now." Amy said quietly.

"Oh Pish Posh…I know you can't resist my famous sourdough bread! I'm making it just for you. Ok, it's settled then, I'll see you at 2 pm. Sleep well Amy." Sheldon said happily.

"Good night Sheldon" Amy croaked out. She hit the red phone button to hang up. Her tired eyes filled with tears again. She couldn't hold them back any longer and they came bursting out of her like a dam that had breached. She shed tears for the forbidden kiss. She shed tears for betraying Sheldon. She shed tears for thinking that she that she never wanted to have an emotional and intimate relationship and then contrarily falling completely and totally in love. Finally she shed tears for that love that seemed like it was right in front of her but was always just slightly beyond her grasp.

* * *

 

Apartment 4A was filled with the heavenly scent of fresh bread baking in the oven. Sheldon was nervously scurrying around his apartment getting ready for Amy's imminent arrival. The New England clam chowder was simmering on the stove. The kettle was ready with water to make her some tea when she arrived. He gazed nervously at the long rectangular wooden box and paper covered package on the coffee table that he had brought from his room.

_Knock Knock Knock._

Sheldon looked at his watch. It was exactly 2 pm. Amy was always delightfully punctual. He rushed over to the door and opened it. Amy was standing there, looking slightly pale with a sad look on her face. He rushed towards her and pulled her into an embrace. Amy's body was stiff at first, but then she relaxed into his hug. He could feel her sigh and hold him back, clinging tightly to him.

After he let go, Amy looked up at Sheldon. "I thought that we were not allowed to hug at the beginning of the date?" she enquired.

"Oh…um..yes. That's right. But technically, this is not date night, so it doesn't fall under our date night rule structure. It's a Sunday afternoon, so I think we can let a little whimsy into our lives." Sheldon said nervously. "I mean…well, I'm open to making some alterations to the Relationship Agreement if required." Sheldon rushed over to the stove and turned the burner on to warm up the water for tea. He went back to the living room and motioned Amy to sit down on the couch. She tentatively sat down in her spot beside his. Sheldon sat down in his spot and gave her a shy smile.

"Sheldon, this is really hard– "

The kettle whistled loudly, and Sheldon jumped up and went back to the kitchen. Moments later he returned with two cups of steaming hot tea. "I made you Honey Lemon Ginseng…your favourite" he smiled as he put the tea on the coaster on the table in front of them.

"Sheldon, I need to tell you –"

"Amy, do you mind if I go first? I've wanted to tell you something very important yesterday, but I never got the opportunity. It's important Amy….do you mind?" Sheldon asked nervously.

"Ok…" Amy said slowly.

Sheldon took a big breath and began. "I've done a lot of thinking about things your mentioned to me on our last date night, and when we fought about you working on the paper with Kripke and about the rumour around campus. Based on those conversations, and thinking I have done about our relationship, I think I've narrowed our issues to three core issues. You are unsure if I truly want a girlfriend, you find me arrogant and condescending and…" Sheldon paused. "You don't think I desire you like a woman."

Amy looked sadly at him. "I don't know if it's that simple, but yes, you did hit on some of our core issues."

"Well, ok, let's start from the beginning then. There were only a few of people I trusted growing up. My Pop-pop, meemaw and mom. I didn't trust my brother and sister, they were always torturing me. I was just plain scared of my dad. I didn't really have any friends. I just basically kept to myself and did my own thing. Thankfully, I truly am fabulous company for myself so I always had a lot to do. But the fact remains that I don't really open up easily to new people. I swore to myself that I didn't need extraneous people in my life. I was self-sufficient the way I was. Friends and most family were unnecessary. A girlfriend…the thought was absurd! But you came along and made me think differently.

Amy gazed thoughtfully at him. "Sheldon –"

"No let me get through this first please Amy….before I lose my nerve." He continued "I went to school so young, and had no friends or anyone to talk to. I was so much younger than my classmates. Seven years younger! They loved to bug me and make fun of me. So I found the best defense was to be correct. And to let them know that I was correct. I guess it kind of made me a bit condescending and arrogant over the years. It's become second nature, and I guess it's my defense mechanism. Honestly Amy, people try to talk to me about the most basic mundane things, and it's so tiresome. I try not to even listen if possible sometimes. I did that to you when you tried to talk to me about your new idea. I should have never categorized you with the others because you are different. You are brilliant Amy. I'm sorry for not taking your idea seriously. I should have known if it came from you, it is worth listening to.

Sheldon went back to the couch so that he was sitting beside Amy and picked up the long rectangular wooden box and package covered in brown paper. "Remember on our last date night, you wanted to talk about the train trip and what I thought about our relationship. I kind of avoided the question, because I was scared to talk about it. I was scared that things would change too fast if you knew how I really felt."

Amy looked at Sheldon. "What do you mean? Change too fast?"

"I….I… umm.. Ok, I spent a bit of time thinking about Physics. And a bit of time thinking about trains. But I would have to say I spent a good 87% of my time thinking about you. Yes, I did the math."

"You thought about me? What were you thinking about me?" Amy asked curiously.

"I missed you Amy. I missed you so much. I wasn't supposed to care so much about another human being. I was supposed to be self-sufficient. But I found I couldn't stop thinking about what you would think of this or that. You became my obsession on the train. I thought about things we talked about. I thought about how pretty you are. I thought about papers that you wrote. I thought about our kiss….I thought about doing more than our kiss…."Sheldon trailed off.

Amy looked up at him stunned. "I'm not sure if I believe you….you didn't even want me to come pick you up."

"Amy! I thought about you so much, and then to have you there, with me looking like a huge failure…I was embarrassed. I didn't want you to see me that way. I thought maybe I had been obsessing a bit too much, and that perhaps I should take a step back when I got back and we resumed our relationship."

"Well that is not good either. Obsess about me, and then take a step back? How do I know what you are saying is even true? You could just be telling me that you were thinking about me on the train, because I called for a break in our relationship."

"Amy, you know I don't lie" Sheldon implored.

Amy raised an eyebrow and looked him.

He looked at her guiltily. "Ok, I don't typically lie, and that was a one of." He picked up the paper covered package and the wooden box and handed it to Amy. "Well what kind of scientist would I be, I didn't present proof for my statements. Open the paper package and look at the tabs"

Amy carefully set down the box on the coffee table, and picked up the paper covered package. She slowly ripped off the paper, and inside was a book. A journal to be precise.

"What is this?" she asked softly, running her hands over the smooth leather bound cover.

"It's everything. It's Dr. Sheldon Cooper's mind. Everything I thought of on the train documented right there in that book. Amy, I would never show anyone this, and I will probably die of embarrassment that you are reading this. But I want you to truly know how much I thought of you, and what I thought of you. Sometimes its hard for me to articulate in person. I flagged a few key entries that I wanted you to see. I think it will answer your question about desire."

Tears started to well up in Amy's eyes. Sheldon was pouring his heart out to her…quite literally. And she let another man kiss her the night before. She felt so incredibly sad and guilty at the same time. With trembling hands she opened the burgundy coloured book to a random page.

_Life on the train is getting mundane. There is an old couple playing cards in the dining car. I could join them to break up the sheer monotony, but since I can count six decks of cards in my head, and they only have one, it hardly seems fair. I wish Amy was here with me. We could play counterfactuals. We could probably invent our own card game together. I could create one myself, but it's no fun without her. Nothing is fun without her._

Sheldon sat in his spot wringing his hands looking at her. "Looked at the entries I flagged" he said softly.

_I've been thinking about Amy's hair. I've been trying to pinpoint the intoxicating smell. She said it's dandruff shampoo. But I went to pharmacy in various train stations and smelled every single bottle available of the dandruff shampoos. There is one, which I think is a small element in Amy's beautiful scent. But there is something else. Something floral. I proceeded to sniff every other shampoo and lotion in the pharmacy until I was asked to leave by a stern little woman that worked there. Militants! I did buy a bottle of that dandruff shampoo. Just my luck I wandered into The Body Shop. They had quite an assortment of lotions. Then I found it. Moringa Body Butter. This is what Amy smells like. A mixture of the shampoo and the cream. Now she won't feel so far away from me anymore._

Amy looked at Sheldon and smiled at him with tear filled eyes. He had found her favourite body lotion. She quickly turned to the next tab.

_It was surprisingly easy to hack into Harvard's repository of post graduate papers. I quickly found some of Amy's post doc papers that she had written. Interestingly she seems to have taken a course in Women and Gender Studies for her humanities requirement. She has strong opinions about the female role in modern sexual relationships. She seemed to have quite an assertive stance on oral gratification….very intriguing._

Amy's face flushed red as she stared up at Sheldon. "You read my university papers?" she said shocked. Her eyes went wide wondering if he had read the one on her proposed correlation of penis length and men's view on society.

"If you wanted to confirmation that I desire you as a woman, keep reading" he said softly. She looked at him curiously and then turned to the next tab.

_I can't get an internet signal in this dead zone. I only brought one book which I've read four times now. The gift shop on board is closed. There is absolutely nothing to do. There is one magazine…well more of a shopping catalogue that I found when I did my initial clean of my cabin. It was underneath the mattress which is a worrying testament to the cleaning staff for this train that they missed that. I will need to write a strongly worded letter regarding that. Regardless, the magazine was for Victoria's Secret. The catalogue made somewhat interesting reading material. That sure is a lot of panties. It appears that in lingerie there is an inverse relationship between the lack of material, and cost. There is a model in there that kind of looks like Amy. The long straight chestnut hair, with green eyes. But she is not as beautiful as my Amy. She looks too generic. There is nothing special about her. Amy blows her out of the water. I do like the nightie she is wearing though. Amy would look amazing in it. Light purple, it would make her eyes look even more intensely green. Sheer cups would show off her breasts, the lacy bodice ending right below her enticing bottom. Amy would look delicious in this nightgown. She would never wear something like that would she? Her style is much more conservative. But she is not as conservative as she appears, if her Harvard papers are any indication. Perhaps I could buy her this nightgown, and keep it at my apartment. In case she needs to spend the night at my place for any reason. She would need to stay in my bed with me, because I wouldn't want her getting cold. Who am I kidding, I want her out of the nightgown and trying everything she wrote about on page 47 of her fanfiction._

Amy dropped the journal and stared at Sheldon whose face was flushed red but was staring intently at her. She was stunned at everything that she had just read. Her fanfiction? Lingerie? Wanting her out of the lingerie? It was shocking, it was a whole new side to Sheldon that he had kept hidden. She didn't think he even thought about those things.

"My fanfiction…" she croaked. "You read my fanfiction?"

"Amy, please open the box now. It's everything Amy. My box of Amy that I collected on my train trip. It's how I survived those 45 days..."

Amy wiped the tears from her eyes, and slowly opened the box. Inside was a small bottle of her shampoo, the lotion, photos of her and Sheldon – at the zoo, with their friends, even at Amy's lab. Hand written papers with her favourite Chaucer poems, a copy of her fanfiction that had been printed, with notes written along the side, a Victoria's Secret catalogue, and underneath the catalogue was a purple looking cloth. She pulled out the purple cloth, and opened it to see that it was the purple negligee. Amy gasped at the negligee, it was very beautiful, but it was so revealing…and short…and sheer in key places.

"You bought me lingerie?"

Sheldon got on his knees and kneeled before Amy on the couch. He grabbed her hands. "Nevermind the lingerie right now. I showed you these things, because I'm sorry that you didn't know how I really felt. Amy you are the most important person to me in my life, and the fact that I made you feel otherwise makes me feel horrible." Sheldon took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. "Amy…Amy I love you. I love you with all my heart."

It was the words her soul was aching to hear. It was too much. Everything she had ever wanted from Sheldon was coming true. And she had wrecked it. With one reckless kiss. Amy put her head in her hands and started sobbing.

"Amy? Amy why are you crying?" Sheldon asked softly.

She looked up into his beautiful clear blue eyes. She had to tell him, it wasn't fair to him. "Barry and I kissed last night" she whispered.

They say you can't pinpoint these things, but they were wrong. At 3:42 pm on Sunday afternoon, Amy saw Sheldon's heart break.

**A/N: I'm so sorry to leave it at this point, but next chapter will be Sheldon's reaction. Can their relationship survive the Kripke kiss? And what about Barry…is he out of the picture? Stay tuned!**


	13. 13

The room felt like all the air had been sucked out of it. Sheldon was still kneeling in front of Amy but he had dropped her hands suddenly at Amy's revelation. Amy looked him, he couldn't look her in the eye, his eyes were just focused on the floor. She couldn't stop shaking, and now she could see that Sheldon's hands were trembling also. He didn't need to say anything, the heartbreak was evident on his face.

"What do you mean Barry and you kissed?" Sheldon said in a barely audible whisper.

Amy wiped the tears from her eyes. "Sheldon, it's not what you think. Please, hear me out."

Sheldon stood up and stumbled over to the chair. He crashed down into it, still staring at the floor. "I'm listening" he said.

Amy shifted over to his spot, so that she was closer to him. She faced him and began "Ok, after I left the Cheesecake Factory, I just needed a friend. I needed someone to talk to."

"Kripke." Sheldon said flatly.

Amy paused. "Yes" she said quietly. "I went to his apartment." Sheldon gave her an alarmed look, but didn't say anything. "He was watching a movie, Starship Troopers, so I watched it with him. He had cut up his hands building some razor clawed robot and they were really bothering him. So I told him I had some cream in my purse. I put the cream on his hands. When I finished applying the cream, he turned and kissed me."

He stared at her with an emotionless expression. "He kissed you?"

"Yes…"

"And what did you do?"

"I…ah.."

"Did you kiss him back?" Sheldon said, his quiet voice shaking.

Amy started crying again. "Sheldon, I wouldn't say that I kissed him back, but more responded to his kiss." Sheldon drew a sharp breath of air in. "But then I shoved him back. I told him that it was wrong. It didn't feel right. I didn't want to be kissing him. It felt wrong because it wasn't you. I wanted to be kissing you!"

"Yet, you still let him kiss you. I think I've heard enough." Sheldon got up and walked over to his computer desk and sat down. He opened his laptop, and was waiting for the computer to wake up.

"Sheldon, please! I am so sorry that I put myself in that situation. I was just so upset after the Cheesecake Factory, and I had no idea that Barry was going to kiss me. It really came out of the blue."

"Really Amy? Really?" Sheldon said incredulously. "Let's see, let's go over the facts. You went over to Kripke's apartment. You knew he has feelings for you, you must have. Even I knew that he has feelings for you, he admitted it to me."

"What?" Amy said shocked.

"So you choose to go alone to this man's apartment…a man you know I loathe…and a man you know has feelings for you. Then you watch a Sci-Fi movie with him, which I know you hate to watch. Then you rub cream into open cuts on his hands, exposing yourself to a myriad of whatever infectious diseases he is sure to be carrying. He kisses you and you RESPOND? What does that even mean? I know what it means. It means you continued kissing that miscreant, before your guilt kicked in and you finally shoved him away." Sheldon sputtered.

"Sheldon" Amy sobbed. "The kiss felt so wrong. I didn't want to kiss him. After it happened, I felt terrible. It felt wrong. I only want to kiss you. I was foolish to go over there-"

"-Foolish? Clearly there is only one fool here, and it is me." Sheldon said coldly. He banged the touchpad of his laptop. "Why isn't this damn thing waking up?" He held down the power button to restart the machine.

"Sheldon… I should have never gone over to Barry's apartment. I honestly never thought anything would happen with him. Perhaps I felt that way after four years of coming over to my own boyfriends house and nothing ever happening.."

"Are you really trying to put you and another man kissing on me?" Sheldon shook his head. "Unbelievable."

"This is the first time in four years..FOUR YEARS..that you've ever expressed your feelings for me! I had no idea what you were feeling about me, about us. I had no idea whether you desired me at all. I felt like part of your routine, and not like a woman. A woman that you loved and desired. How am I supposed to know that? If you never tell me, or show me with affection?"

"I thought you understood me…I thought that you knew me. I'm not overly expressive but I though you understood how much I cared about you. All that time we spent together, doing things together, talking together. I only spend that much time with people I truly care about.."

"I always understood that you cared about me, but I didn't know if you loved me! Loved me! Not like you love Leonard and Penny. Love. Like how a man and woman love each other. Romantic love." Amy walked over and picked up the journal that she had dropped on the floor earlier and held it to her heart. "Do you know how much this journal means to me? It's amazing. It's what I've been longing for. It shows me how much you care about me. That you do truly love me."

Sheldon stared at her and then his eyes filled with tears. He was trying desperately to hold back his emotions, to not further reveal himself. It couldn't be done. He was exposed…raw…for the world to see.

"I….I do love you Amy. I love you so much" he whispered with a broken voice.

Amy rushed over to Sheldon and kneeled in front of him, grabbing his hands. "Sheldon, I love you too. I love you so much. I've loved and adored you for so long, and I've wanted to tell you. I was just scared that you didn't feel the same" she said tearfully.

Sheldon pulled his hands out of hers. "No" he croaked out softly.

Amy looked up at him confused. "No what?"

"No. You. Do. Not. Love. Me" Sheldon stuttered out.

"What are you talking about? I do Sheldon! I love you so much!" Amy protested wearily.

"No. No you don't. Because I couldn't even fathom kissing another woman. RESPONDING, to another woman. It is impossible. The only woman I've ever wanted to touch is you. It's always been only you. I thought you felt the same way about me…but I was wrong."

"Sheldon that kiss meant nothing to me. It was unwelcome, and not any indication of my real feelings. I love you Sheldon. I don't know how to convince you, other than telling you, but I love you so much!" Amy said emphatically.

Sheldon wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve and looked at his computer again. It still had not rebooted. He tapped the power button again in frustration. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat. "Amy, you violated the relationship agreement."

Amy just stared at him with a stunned look on her face. She could feel her hands going cold, and the room started to lose its colour.

"The Relationship agreement states that no other man is allowed to touch you romantically. You broke the clause. And as such-"

"-Sheldon, what are you doing?" Amy cried.

"The agreement has been broken. It's broken…broken…we are broken." Sheldon started tearing up again. "I was trying to turn on my computer to print out the termination agreement. But my computer won't turn on for some reason, and my IPad is broken. I should have sprung for Apple Care…"

Amy stared at Sheldon in the eyes. "You don't want to do this Sheldon. I don't want this either."

"You are right, I don't want to do this, but it is what it is" he said quietly as a lone tear rolled down his face.

"So what…just like that. You're going to give up on us?" Amy hissed with tears in her eyes. She held the journal to her heart. "The man who thought of me all the time, and wrote all these beautiful entries, is just going to give up on us…on our relationship…that we invested four years in. If you truly loved me, you would fight for this relationship." Amy wiped the tears from her eyes. She stared at Sheldon's laptop and paused. "Perhaps it's destiny that your laptop won't turn on" she whispered.

He stared at her with his red-tinged eyes, he was taken aback. She was quoting his favourite passage in her fanfiction. How could she have known? "I'm a man of science…I don't believe in destiny." Sheldon said slowly, with his voice cracking.

Amy grabbed his hand. "Some things are beyond science." She stood up and cupped his tear stained face in her hands. She bent down and gave him a slow soft tentative kiss on his lips. She could feel Sheldon's entire body shuddering beneath her as she placed her lips were on his. She kept her lips on his, not letting him go. She could feel his body tense up, like he was fighting the kiss, fighting himself. But then he changed. She could feel the tension flow away from his body. He pulled her down onto his lap and put arms around her waist holding her close, their lips never losing contact. His lips betrayed him as he returned the kiss with such a hunger that it shocked and excited her. He was devouring her, his lips hungry for hers. He kissed her passionately, as he slowly slipped his tongue in her mouth. Amy felt shocked at the sensation. The moment she had longed for had finally arrived in this kiss. She eagerly returned the kiss, sliding her tongue along his. They continued kissing more and more passionately, drowning in the sensation, feeling like their souls had finally connected.

The oven timer went off to indicate the sourdough bread was done baking. They stopped kissing abruptly and looked at each other. Their eyes were both dilated and they were breathing heavily. This felt nothing like her kiss with Kripke. She felt amazing…amazing and totally and completely in love. All she wanted was more…

Sheldon indicated that he needed to stand up, so she got up from his lap. He stood up and faced the kitchen, his back to her. He just stood there not moving, but after a couple of minutes she could see that his shoulders were shaking.

Amy walked over to him, and placed her hand on his back. "Sheldon? Why are you just standing there? Are you ok?"

He turned around slowly, and she could see the tears streaming down his face. He desperately tried to wipe them away with his sleeve.

"Sheldon..why-"

"Amy you need to leave. Please."

"What is going on? Why are you crying?"

"Amy…I just can't. I can't deal with this. I need you to go now." Sheldon said as he continued wiping tears from his eyes.

"What? No…Not until I know what is going on. We just shared the most intimate amazing kiss –"

"Exactly. It was the most intimate thing I've ever experienced." Sheldon said softly.

"Then why do you want me to leave? Is the increased intimacy scaring you? Is that what it is?" Amy asked.

"No…it's not that."

"Then?" Amy enquired with a worried look on her face.

"That was the most intimate experience of my life. I've never felt this way before. But all I can think of is the thought that you shared this kind of close intimacy with another man. You responded Amy…you responded. And now I understand what that means..." Sheldon said as he closed his eyes.

"My kiss with Barry was nothing like this. I didn't want him to kiss me. After he kissed me, I felt horrible. I wanted to throw up I felt so bad. I've only ever wanted to kiss you! It was nothing like this! Our kiss felt amazing because our kiss came out of true love. It felt wonderful. It was the first and only time I ever experienced anything like that!"

"Amy, I'm sorry…I just can't. I don't understand. I just need you to go. I need to be alone."

"And what does that mean for us? Are we together? Are we not? Are you still wanting to terminate our relationship?" Amy asked tearily.

"I don't know…I just don't know anymore. I don't know what 'we' are…Please Amy."

Amy grabbed the journal, and walked towards the door. "Sheldon, you need to think long and hard about us, because you are at real risk of losing me forever. And it's not because of another man. I love you with all of my heart, but it doesn't mean that that love cannot be destroyed. Think about that before tossing it all away." Amy opened the door and walked out.

Sheldon slumped down into his spot. Tears refilled his eyes as he was overwhelmed by the flood of emotions. Could he get past Kripke kissing his girlfriend? The thought of it just enraged and infuriated him. Amy responding to his kiss? He just didn't know anymore. What he did know for sure, was all he wanted to do right now is put one lecherous physicist in his place.

**A/N: Wow, this chapter did not go at all how I planned it…sometimes this story takes on a different path than I what I had thought. Sheldon's upset…and pissed at Kripke. What's going to happen between the two physicists? And more importantly…what happened to the sourdough bread! Thanks for the reviews!**


	14. Chapter 14

Leonard and Penny walked into 4A and immediately knew that something was amiss.  The place was an uncharacteristic mess.  Two mugs were left on the coffee table, Sheldon’s desk papers were all askew, and the kitchen had a slightly smoky look to it.

“What is that awful smell?” Penny asked holding her hand over her nose.

Leonard walked into the kitchen and looked around.  There was a burnt loaf of sourdough bread sitting on the counter.  The pot on the stove produced the worst smell of all.  It looked like some grey slop that was scorched on the bottom.  It now had a consistency of glue.  Leonard looked into the pot and gave it a quick sniff.  “I think this was supposed to be clam chowder…before it got completely burned to the pot.”  He gave Penny a confused look.  “It’s not like him to not clean up.  Is Sheldon even home?”

Penny glanced and saw Sheldon’s keys and wallet in the key bowl.  “Well his wallet and keys are here.  His coat is here too.  I think he must be home.”  She walked over to Leonard and they made their way together down the hall to Sheldon’s closed door.

Leonard tapped gently on Sheldon’s door.  “Sheldon?  It’s Leonard and Penny.  Are you there?  Can we come in?”

“Come in” a voice faintly said.

Leonard and Penny walked in to see Sheldon’s room a total mess.  He was sitting on the floor with a screwdriver screwing the back onto his laptop.  There were various computer parts in a box beside him.   There were papers strewn on his bed, on the floor, everywhere.    Sheldon plugged the adaptor to the outlet, and then tentatively hit the power button.  The screen lit up and the computer started booting normally.

“Yes…I knew I could fix it.” Sheldon muttered.  He immediately logged into CalTech’s document server, and started printing off research papers.

Penny gave Leonard a worried look, and then kneeled down beside Sheldon.  “Sweetie?  What’s going on?  The kitchen is a mess, there is burnt food on the stove.  That’s not like you…you are always such a stickler about fire hazards.  Why did you take your laptop apart?  What are all these papers?   I thought Amy was coming over today.” Penny questioned.

“Amy left.” Sheldon said abruptly.

Leonard picked up a paper that had just printed and looked at it with a puzzled look.  He started flipping through some of the papers on his bed.  “Sheldon, why are you printing Kripke’s physics papers?  Some of this stuff is pretty old.  This one is from his undergrad days at Columbia?”

Leonard looked clearly at Sheldon for the first time, and saw that his eyes were red.  Sheldon was focused, and kept typing into the computer.  “I’m glad my laptop is working again, printing from my phone was getting tedious.”  Sheldon glanced up at Leonard’s puzzled look.  “Know thy enemy Leonard….know thy enemy.  ”

“Oh God, what has Kripke done now?  Is he collaborating with Amy again?” Leonard asked curiously.

“You could say that” Sheldon said softly. “If by collaborating, you mean the free and open exchange of saliva, then yes they have been collaborating.”

“WHAT???” Penny gasped.  “What do you mean? They’ve been kissing? I knew that they were texting each other but what???  How?  Oh my God! I can’t believe Amy would ever cheat on you!  I always knew Barry was a rat!”

Sheldon looked up at Penny stunned.  “They’ve been texting each other?”

Penny stopped in her tracks and looked at Sheldon.  His large blue eyes were wide and imploring her for the answer she didn’t want to give.  She sighed.  “Well, I only saw it once, the other week when we were having Chinese food here.”

“I see” he said quietly.

Leonard frowned and looked at Sheldon.  He sat on his bed and put his hand on his shoulder.  “Buddy, I just can’t imagine Amy doing something like that.  Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

Sheldon took a large breath and then began.  “Well, after the Cheesecake Factory, Amy was upset and wanted to see a friend.  Apparently Kripke and her are great friends now, much to my surprise.  Anyways, they were watching Starship Troopers.  A movie that she would never watch with all of us, I might add.   Kripke’s hands were cut up, because he is not intelligent to wear work gloves when working with sharp razor blades for his latest attack robot.  He said they were bothering him, so Amy applied cream on his hands.  Don’t even get me started on all the germs she probably exposed herself to right there.  Then she said, he turned and kissed her.” Sheldon’s voice faltered on the last part.

“Did she kiss him back?” Penny asked softly.

“She said no she didn’t kiss him back, but responded to his kiss.  Then she said she shoved him back.”

Leonard looked thoughtfully at Sheldon.  “Well what did Amy say about the kiss?”

“Well, she said she didn’t want to kiss him.  But the fact remains that she did.  She responded to his kiss, and I understand what that means.”

“What do you mean you understand?” Leonard asked.

“It’s not important.  She was very apologetic, but I don’t know…..this changes everything.”

“Well, it’s not that bad.  It was just one kiss, and she shoved him away.  She was probably just stunned that he kissed her.  You know that she’s not that experienced with men, and Kripke moves fast.”

“What do you mean it’s not that bad?  How can you say that Leonard?  She went to another man’s apartment, and watched a movie with him.  A guy that’s been flirting with her and texting her.  That is not ok.  I can’t believe your so blasé about this!” Penny exclaimed.

“It was one stupid kiss.  A kiss that she didn’t even initiate!  You have to admit, that Sheldon probably played a big part in them getting this this messed up spot in their relationship.  Kripke was probably giving her attention that she was craving.” Leonard replied.

“How can you blame Sheldon?  If she was upset, she should have talked to him.  Not show up at some creepers apartment.” Penny retorted.

“I’m just saying nobody is totally innocent in this situation. Amy should have never gone to Kripke’s apartment, Kripke should have never kissed her in the first place and Sheldon started this whole mess by never paying his own girlfriend any attention.”  Leonard looked thoughtfully at Sheldon.  “So how did you leave things with Amy?”

“I…I… I don’t know.  I asked her to leave.  I can’t handle thinking about Amy right now.  Besides…Kripke needs to be taught a lesson.  I need to know everything I can about him - his research, his life, his family, his friends.   My mother told me never to trust a New Yorker…”

Leonard started pacing around his bedroom.  “Oh no…what are you planning?  You’re still on thin ice with university after you slimed Kripke and President Siebert that time.  I’m still surprised you didn’t get fired for that one” Leonard said worriedly. 

“He HAS to pay Leonard!   What kind of person goes after another man’s girlfriend?  Besides, the Caltech Faculty Awards Dinner is tomorrow night.  If I plan this right, we should all be there to witness his ultimate humiliation.”

“How are you going to top showing your own drunken ass to the world?  That was a humiliation win.  Aaah…nothing beats that one.  Here’s Uranus!”  Penny snickered.

“Penny!  That night is not to be mentioned.  Remember?” Sheldon said annoyed.  “I’m still working out the details, but let’s just say, his day up until that point should be completely irritating.  He should be ready to pull his hair out by the time the dinner begins..”

“Sheldon, you’re only making yourself look bad...you’re not really accomplishing anything by doing this.  Maybe you should focus on you and Amy and how to repair your relationship.” Leonard interjected.

Sheldon sighed and looked at Leonard and Penny. “Amy…I can’t.  It just hurts too much to think about her right now ok” he said softly.   He started stuffing his papers into his bag and a few tools.   “I’m heading out…don’t wait up.”  He headed out of the bedroom.

Penny looked at Leonard.  “This dinner is going to be an unmitigated disaster isn’t it…”

“Of epic proportions” Leonard sighed.

* * *

 

Barry glanced at his cellphone as he walked down the hall.   He had tried calling Amy multiple times since Saturday night, but she hadn’t returned any of his calls.  He looked at his unanswered texts, and emails.   Why hadn’t she responded?  The kiss he shared with her touched him in a way that he had never felt before.  Sure he had kissed girls before, but he had never felt such a deep connection as with this kiss.  Amy was different.  He cared so much about her.  He just wanted to make her smile…to make her happy.

He shook his head.  He probably should have never kissed her.  At least when her and Cooper’s relationship status was questionable.  It just felt so right in the moment, she looked so pretty sitting there in his apartment.  He closed his eyes, and thought of her small hands rubbing cream so tenderly on his hands.  He couldn’t help himself.  All the signals were there.  He couldn’t help but take the chance.  He needed to talk to her.  It was a couple days since the kiss, hopefully they could speak with each other today.

Kripke unlocked his office door.  There was a lot to do today.  Tonight was the Caltech faculty awards dinner, and he was actually being awarded tonight for some of his research earlier in the year.  He was to give a brief presentation.  He needed to get his PowerPoint and speaking points a final review and send it to the awards coordinator by 10 am this morning.

He walked over to his stereo and turned it on _.  It’s a Small World_ started playing from the stereo.   Barry looked at the stereo puzzled.  Where was that song coming from?  It wasn’t in his playlist. He started clicking the buttons on his stereo, but everything appeared to be stuck. 

The song kept droning on….it must be the longest song in the world.  When it stopped, the song began again.  “Oh God no….” Barry muttered.    He reached behind the stereo and pulled the chord.  The stereo kept playing the annoying song.  He flipped the stereo over and looked at the battery compartment.  It was screwed shut.   But how could it be playing?  He never put batteries in there in the first place.  Kripke put the stereo back down, and sat down at his desk and opened the drawer to look for his screwdriver.  It wasn’t there.

Barry glanced at his watch and saw that it was already 9 am.  He needed to finish going over his presentation quickly.  He turned on his computer and logged on.  He clicked on Outlook and then his computer screen went black.  His computer had completely shut off.

“What the hell?” he muttered.  He hit the power button and waited for the computer to reboot.

_It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears_

_It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears_

 “Oh God…shut up” Kripke hissed at his stereo.  His computer returned to his logon screen.  He opened up Outlook, and his computer completely shut down again.   “Of all the days…I need to send my presentation in” Barry muttered.  He picked up his desk phone to call Caltech’s IT support.  Instead of the dial tone, the eerie song played through the headset.

_There’s so much that we share that its time we’re aware_

_It’s a small world after all_

“Ok, someone is just fucking with me.” Barry said to himself angrily as he slammed the phone down.  He grabbed his cellphone and opened the presentation on it.  He gave it a quick read, and then sent it off to the awards coordinator.  Barry then spied his screwdriver sitting near his computer.  That was odd, he never leaves it there, he always puts it in his desk drawer.  Well regardless, he could use it to turn the stupid song off.  He grabbed the screwdriver.  The handle seemed loose, so he turned it to tighten it.  He heard a small pop, and then the bottom of the screwdriver came off and a clear liquid started running down his hands.

“What the hell is that?” Barry yelled as he jumped up from his seat.  He rubbed his fingers together which quickly became completely stuck to each other.  “Oh hell no…superglue??”  His middle and ring finger were completely fused together.  Barry stared at his hand.   Childish inappropriate dumbass pranks?  This had Cooper written all over it.  Barry cautiously looked up at his ceiling tiles and quickly moved over to the door.  Cooper had no business screwing with his stuff.  He opened the door with his non-sticky hand and headed down to Cooper’s office.

* * *

 

Sheldon was sitting at his office desk.  He wondered how long it would take for Kripke to discover all the little surprises he left him in his office.  He hoped that he made himself a cup of coffee with his little coffeemaker.  That prank was especially ingenious…and would leave him with a nice blue tongue.

_BANG BANG_

Kripke was standing at Sheldon’s door holding up his right hand with his fingers fused together.  “What the hell Cooper?  Superglue?”

Sheldon stared at him.  Just seeing Kripke was bringing up a whole range of emotions.  Anger, betrayal…disgust.  He had never had the urge to punch someone so badly in his life.  The words Amy had told him were flooding his head and repeating over and over.  _He turned and kissed me.  I didn’t kiss him back but responded to his kiss._ Sheldon cracked his knuckles and stared at Barry icily.    He walked over and stood in front of him at full height.  He stared him in the eyes.  “I hear superglue is good for sealing cuts.”

A wave of understanding passed over Kripke’s face.  “You know” he said softly.

“Everything” Sheldon said tensely.  “I warned you to back off…but you didn’t listen.”

“Listen…I’m not that guy.  I didn’t intentionally go after Amy.  She came to my place.  I didn’t know what your relationship status was..things just kind of happened.”

Sheldon scoffed.  “You didn’t know what our relationship status was?  What kind of stupid excuse is that?  Admit it Kripke.  You wanted Amy, and you pawed at her like some animal in heat the first opportunity you had.”

“I did not paw at her at all!  Is that what she told you?” Barry said stunned.

“Listen Kripke,  I don’t know what kind of game you are playing.   Do you often go after women that are not single?  Should I warn Leonard, Raj and Howard to keep an out an eye for you, so you don’t go sniffing after their girlfriends?”

Barry could feel his anger rising as he looked at Sheldon.  He looked down at his fingers stuck together.  “Well if this is indication of how you act, more like a child than a man, then I don’t really blame Amy for looking elsewhere for companionship.”

Sheldon walked over to his desk and laughed.  “Yes, because you are a pillar of virtue aren’t you? Worthy of Amy’s companionship?   I did a little digging on you Kripke.  And most of what I found out about your personal life isn’t flattering.”

“Oh whatever Cooper.  I don’t have to justify my life to you.”

“Let’s see.  There’s Krista, Michelle, Candy, Rachelle, Jalissa, Emory, Stacey, Trish.  I could go on…but let’s move on to the strippers – Melody, Bambi, Magic, Chantilly –“

“What are you trying to prove?  I don’t care what you think.  Those girls meant nothing to me.”

“I wonder what Amy would think of such a long list of women?  I haven’t even gone through everyone.  And that is just who I found…I’m sure there are more.    Perhaps she wouldn’t be so flattered by your attention, when she knows how “freely” you give attention out?”

Kripke grew more pissed off at the thought of Amy thinking badly of him.  “You know what…Fuck you Cooper.  I felt bad after for upsetting Amy, and you know what, a bit of me felt bad about what I did to you.  But you totally destroyed that.  I could care less how you feel.  You brought this whole thing on yourself.  If Amy was happy with you, she would have never let me kiss her.”

Sheldon felt like he was scalded when he heard the word kiss escape Kripke’s mouth.  It almost made it more real.  Too real.    “She didn’t LET you kiss her” he hissed.

Kripke got in Sheldon’s face.  “Oh really?  That’s not how I remember it.  I remember her soft small hands gently touching –“

“Shut up!  Now!  I’m warning you.  Don’t you dare say another word” Sheldon snapped at him, his face going flush.

Kripke walked closer to Sheldon. “Her lips are so soft…did you know that?”  He looked at Sheldon whose eyes were filled with rage.  “You know what’s even better than her soft soft lips?  Her long curious tongue-“

Sheldon slammed his fist hard into Kripke’s face.  Barry fell to his knees cradling his face.  “What the fuck Cooper?” he yelled. 

He kicked the base of Sheldon’s legs, and he came toppling to the ground.  He slammed his left fist to Sheldon’s face but he only made slight contact, since Sheldon quickly dodged his face to the side.  Sheldon laughed at the haphazard punch.  “My brother’s beat me up my whole life…I’ve learned a thing about dodging punches.”

Barry’s nose started bleeding.  Sheldon was scrambling to get out from under from under Kripke, the sight of the blood was making him start to feel woozy.  Kripke kicked him hard in the chest and his head hit his desk drawer leaving a small cut on the side of his eye.

The door burst open. “What is all this noise?” Leonard, Howard and Raj walked in.  Their eyes went wide at the scene before them.  Kripke and Sheldon were both on the ground.  Kripke’s eye was starting to swell and his nose was bleeding.  Sheldon was sitting on the floor leaned up against his desk cradling his face.

“What the hell happened here?” Howard exclaimed.

Kripke got up held his nose with his left hand.  He couldn’t bend his right hand because of all the superglue.  “I’m done with you Cooper.  You better fix my office back to it’s original state, or I WILL get you fired.  You can count on it.  I’m not going back into that deathtrap, I’m going home.”  He stormed out of the office.

Sheldon put his head against the desk and was blankly staring at the wall.  Leonard leaned down and touched his shoulder.  “Are you ok?  What happened here?”

Sheldon stayed silent and continued staring at the wall.  Finally he turned to Leonard.  “Phase One complete” he whispered.

 

**A/N:  I know Sheldon punching anyone is totally OOC, but I felt he could get there if “pushed”.  I thought Kripke goading Sheldon about the kiss would push him over the edge.  Next Chapter…the Caltech Faculty Awards Dinner.  Hopefully a bit of a funnier chapter.  Unfortunately the bread didn’t make it, but thank you for all the concern over it!**


	15. Chapter 15

It was Monday afternoon, and Amy had just entered her apartment.  She had left work early to get ready for the Caltech Faculty Awards Dinner.  She pulled out her phone for the thousandth time and checked it.  There was still no email or text from Sheldon.  There were two unread emails from Barry, and a text as well.  She was feeling a huge amount of guilt; for hurting Sheldon, and for misleading Barry.  She sighed as she threw her bag by the door and then sunk down into the couch. 

Amy hadn’t really slept well all weekend.  She had spent most of it pouring over Sheldon’s journal which was now sitting on the coffee table.  She picked it up and ran her hands along the soft leather bound cover.  Reading his thoughts was such a fascinating journey.  She felt she had a direct connection to the mind of her brilliant boyfriend.  He had such funny insights, quips, and observations about the world.  He truly saw the world differently than most do….with a critical eye, but also with a childlike fascination.  The combination was so perfectly and uniquely him.  Barry was a fun person to talk to, to joke around with but she felt completely different with Sheldon.  Her heartbeat quickened when she saw him, when she thought about him.  The fact was, she was in love with one Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper.

She felt bad with how she had left his apartment yesterday.  She had just felt overwhelmed with everything that had happened.  He had been so hurt, reeling from the knowledge of her kiss with Barry.  And she had stomped off, telling him that he was at real risk of losing her.  He was emotionally broken…shattered.  All she wanted to do now is pull him into her arms and tell her how sorry she was for hurting him.  Her heart belonged to him.  Only to him.

Amy walked to her room, and opened her top drawer.  On top was the lilac negligée that Sheldon had purchased for her.  It was so beautiful and delicate looking.  She ran her fingers along the lace on the bodice.  She held the cloth close to her heart.

“Oh Sheldon….how can I show you that my heart only belongs to you?” she whispered.

 

* * *

 

 The entire gang except for Amy all arrived at the Regency Hyatt Hotel roughly around the same time.  They entered the ballroom that was marked for the Caltech Faculty Awards dinner.  The room was beautiful, with a large stage in the front, and tables all filled with fresh cut flowers.  There was a bar off to the side and appetizer stations set up at various locations in the room.

Sheldon was dressed in a black suit, with a dark blue shirt and matching blue tie.  His right eye had a small cut underneath it, and small bruise.  He kept taking out his phone and texting somebody.

Leonard was looking at the seating chart.  “Hey guys, we are at table 12, on the right”.  The group all headed to the table and sat down.

“Hey Penny?” Bernadette whispered as they walked to their table.

“What?” Penny replied.

“Do you think Amy is going to come?  With how things are between her and Sheldon?”

“I have no idea.  I’m curious myself.” Penny whispered back.  The group gathered around the table and began sitting down.  There was an empty chair next to Sheldon. 

Raj pulled out the seat for Emily.  “Would you like a drink my love?”

“A red wine would be nice” she replied.

“Mmm…that sounds nice.” Bernadette chirped.

“Make that three please” Penny added in.

“Let’s go” Raj said as he nodded to Howard.  They headed to the bar where a man in a dark grey suit was standing with his back to them.  Raj signaled the bartender.  “Three house red wines, one grasshopper and a Sapporo please.”

Howard looked past Raj at the man in the dark grey suit.  His fingers were in a peculiar configuration.  “Kripke?”

Barry turned around and faced Howard and Raj.  His left eye was a deep purple and looked quite swollen.

“Whoah! Oh my God….Sheldon really clocked you!  I never thought he had it in him” Raj exclaimed.

Barry frowned at them and took a sip of his gin and tonic.  “This is a nightmare.  I have to give a presentation tonight, and I look like I’ve been in a bar fight or something.  That’s all anyone is asking me…what happened to your face?  What happened to your face?  I can’t tell them, or HR will come sniffing around.   I’m on the edge of a major breakthrough and up for an award, I don’t need to deal with the administration right now.  If Cooper tries to pull anything tonight, he’s dead.  I’m not kidding.  All bets are off.”

“Here are your drinks” the bartender interrupted.  He set the five drinks down on the counter.

“I’ll take the girls their drinks” Raj said.  He took the three drinks and headed back to their table.

Howard leaned up against the bar and faced Kripke.  “Listen, I can’t believe Sheldon punched you.  The pranks make sense from what I know of him.  But to be honest, kissing Amy?  You were really asking for it.”

Barry scoffed.  “You only know what Sheldon told you.  You don’t know my side.  You don’t know Amy’s side.  I’m not the villain here.  Amy showed up at my apartment, not the other way around.”

“Yeah, but the fact remains that you kissed another man’s girlfriend.  No matter how you slice it, it’s kind of a dick move.” 

Kripke sighed and gazed towards the entrance of the banquet room.  Howard looked at him thoughtfully.  “I’m not saying this to make you feel bad.  I’d probably be the first one to spout of all the things that are annoying about Sheldon.  I know you and Sheldon have no love lost between you, but you never really hated the guy.  Maybe you should just step back, and let them figure stuff out between them.  Who knows if they work out or don’t.  But at least you’ll know it’s not because of you.”

Barry held up his claw hand in front of Howard’s face.  “Well excuse me if I’m not feeling entirely empathetic right now towards Cooper.  My eye is throbbing, my head hurts.   I’m going to look like an idiot up there with my face looking like this.”

“Well think about what I said for Amy’s sake then” Howard said quietly.  Barry gazed towards the door again, looking for her.

Raj returned to the bar for the remaining drinks.  He looked at Kripke’s face.  “Duuuude…I still can’t believe that’s the work of Sheldon Cooper!” Raj laughed and then took a sip of his grasshopper.  “Maybe you can spread the rumour that you saved a kid from a mugger or something.  You’re good at spreading rumours!”

Barry rolled his eyes at Raj, grabbed his drink and headed back to his table.

“Too soon?” Raj asked.

“Too soon.” Howard replied.

* * *

 

Amy walked into the room and saw the group sitting at their table.  Sheldon was sitting at the table, but he was looking down at his phone.  He looked so handsome in his black suit.  She smoothed her white dress, and tucked her hair which she had curled behind her ear.  She was so nervous to speak with Sheldon.  Would he speak with her?  Did he still want to break up?  Was a termination notice waiting for her at the table?  Amy could feel the panic rising up in her chest.  Well there was no point in waiting, she took a big breath and approached the table.

The group looked up, as she quietly sat down beside Sheldon. “Hi Sheldon” she said quietly.

Sheldon put his phone down on the table and looked up at her.  Amy gasped.  “Oh my God Sheldon!  What happened to your eye?”  She grabbed his hand.  She felt a jolt of electricity pass between them, as she clutched his hand.  Amy gazed at the bruise and cut that was just below his eye, but then her eyes drifted up to his blue eyes.  His beautiful blue eyes…clear and true as always, but they looked different.  His eyes revealed a quiet sadness to them.

Amy suddenly felt a arm clutch hers pulling her up from her chair.  She looked up and saw Penny standing there.  “Ames, we need to talk.  NOW.”

Sheldon looked startled as Penny dragged Amy down towards the bar.  Bernadette quickly got up from her chair and joined them.

Penny stood in front of Amy.  “Ames, what the hell?  You kissed that creeper Kripke?  How could you do that to Sheldon?” she said angrily.

“He kissed me!  I didn’t kiss him –“ Amy started.

“-So what?  Sheldon wasn’t giving you what you wanted, so you just CHEAT on him?  I can’t believe that you would do that to him!  I should have known something was up when you were texting that loser.  I guess I trusted you, but maybe I shouldn’t have.”

“God Penny…Lay off a bit.  Let Amy tell us what happened” Bernie interjected.

Amy’s eyes filled with tears as she looked back at the table with Sheldon sitting there.  “It wasn’t like that at all. I was just upset after the Cheesecake Factory, and I thought I would hang out with Barry.  Honestly, I didn’t think anything would happen.  We watched a movie and were just joking around.  I never thought he would turn and kiss me.   I never would intentionally hurt Sheldon.  You don’t know how much this is tearing me up inside.” Amy wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

Bernie looked at Amy sympathetically, and touched her arm.  Penny scoffed.  “Well, you always wanted to be the popular girl.  Is having two men coming to blows over you getting you off?”

“Blows?  What?  Is that why Sheldon has bruise on his face?” Amy exclaimed.

Bernie turned Amy around and pointed to a man sitting at the table across the room.  “Look at Kripke.”

Amy gasped and put her hands over her mouth.  “Oh my God!  His eye is totally swollen shut!  Sheldon hit him?  I can’t believe this!”

“You should see Kripke’s hand!  Ames, if they keep this up, they could get in serious hot water at work.  You and Sheldon need to work your stuff out, and get him to call off whatever Phase Two is.  Listen, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn’t intend to hurt Sheldon, but don’t play games Amy.” Penny stated.

“I’m not playing games” Amy started angrily. “You have no idea –“

_Would everybody please take their seats.  The awards ceremony will be starting shortly._

“Let’s go” urged Bernadette.  The girls filed back to the table and sat down.  Amy sat down next to Sheldon and looked closely at the bruise on his face.  She then looked over at Barry’s table.  She couldn’t see what Penny was referring to with his hand, but his eye looked terrible.  She just couldn’t imagine Sheldon punching anyone.  She wondered exactly what happened.  And what is Phase Two?  What was Phase One for that matter?

_Thank you.  We have a jam packed evening ahead of us.  We will have a number of in depth presentations from the following departments: Art History, Political Science, Economics, Geology  -_

“Oh good Lord, Geology?…stupid rock monkeys…” Sheldon muttered.

_-Physics and Anthropology.  After the presentations, we will then begin the awards portion of our evening beginning alphabetically by faculty.  So please enjoy the next four fun filled hours, it should be an exciting evening!_

“Four hours!  Did I hear four hours?” Penny exclaimed.  She shook her head.  “Oh my God….I can’t do this without some reinforcements.”  She got up and left the table.

Sheldon was looking at Amy.  She looked so pretty in her white dress.  She was wearing dangly sparkling earrings, and had her hair pulled back off her face with a little diamond clip.  Part of him just wanted to hold her hand and talk to her like everything was normal.  Part of him wanted to make her feel as miserable as he had been feeling.  Part of him felt bad for letting things get this way in the first place, in not letting her know how much he cared about her.   And part of him wanted Kripke to suffer.  Well hopefully he would get some resolution on his last thought tonight.

Penny returned to the table, with a waiter carrying a tray of glasses.  He set down a shot glass in front of each person, and put down a bottle of Jägermeister at the centre of the table.  “Compliments of the beautiful young lady” the waiter said nodding to Penny.

“Shots?  Do you remember the Chancellor Awards the other year?  I’m not really in the mood to see Sheldon’s pasty white behind again” Leonard complained.

“Hey!  It’s not pasty, it’s perfectly aesthetically pleasing!” Sheldon interjected.    Amy blushed and let out a small smile.

“Listen, these next four hours are going to be pure torture unless we do something to make it fun.  Now do any of you have to give a speech?” Penny asked.

“No” the group muttered.

“Are any of you getting an award?” Penny enquired again.

“No” the group said in unison.

“Ok it’s settled then.  Jägermeister it is.”  Penny started pouring the alcohol into the eight shot glasses.

Howard broke out in a big smile.  “Hey, let’s make this interesting, and play a game.  How about “That’s what she said….with the speeches that everyone is giving.  That’s bound to get funny quick.”

“Oh great, it sounds like everyone is going to stay sober then with THESE speeches.” Bernadette stated.

“Oh honey, you know I can make ANYTHING sound dirty” Howard replied.

“Well that’s true…” Penny muttered.

The waiter came and put two large baskets of piping hot sourdough bread on the table with whipped butter.  Sheldon’s eyes went wide as he looked at the bread.  It was sitting there emitting the most delicious smell.  He looked at the bread thoughtfully.  It sat there with perfectly cut pieces, as though it was mocking him.  He gazed over at the bread, and then back at Amy.  She was staring at the basket of bread also.

_The arm off the torso of the sculpture was so large. I could barely get my hands around it._

“That’s what she said!” exclaimed Raj.  The group all snickered with the exception of Sheldon who looked confused.  They all hesitantly grabbed their shot glasses and shot the liquor back.

“Oooh that’s awful!  My throat is burning!” Amy exclaimed.

“That’s what she said” Howard chirped.  Leonard burst out laughing.  Penny quickly refilled all their shot glasses, and they all took another shot.

Bernadette slammed her glass down on the table.  “Ok, new rule.  We can only do ‘that’s what she said’ on speeches from presenters.  Or this evening is going to get messy super quick.”

“Oh Maaa…my Bernadette.  Come on!  Where’s the fun in that?” Howard complained.

“Oh God…I’m already feeling it” Amy said shakily.

“That’s what she said” Raj whispered.  The whole table started laughing again.  They all quickly took their shots.

Bernie shook her head.  “New rule stays…or we’ll all be puking within the hour.” Bernie said sternly.  “We’ve already almost polished off this bottle.”

Leonard jumped up from his seat.  “Oh don’t worry about that, I’ll go get another bottle.”  He walked off towards the bar.

Sheldon looked at Amy.  She was still coughing from the last shot of the Jägermeister.  Maybe it was the alcohol, but he was feeling less upset with her.  He just wanted to make her feel better.  He carefully picked up the basket of bread and held it to her with a slight smile.    She smiled shyly back at him and took a piece of the bread.

He leaned in towards her and whispered.  “I heard a new calculus joke that I thought you might enjoy”  She broke out into a big smile, and nodded.

Raj leaned over to Emily.  “Please tell me I’m smoother than this guy…”he whispered.  Emily laughed and held his hand.

Sheldon cleared his throat.  “Ok, so a bunch of functions were sitting around a campfire: sine, cosine, tan and some others.  But ex was sitting off all by itself.  Someone went up to ex and asked, why don’t you join the others?  ex replied that as much as I want to integrate, I just remain the same.”

Amy burst out laughing.  “I love it!” she exclaimed.  Kripke turned around and stared at Amy and Sheldon laughing.  Sheldon saw Kripke staring at them, and stared directly back at Kripke.  He glanced up at the presentation screen and then back at Kripke and then gave him a large smile.   Kripke went white as a ghost and quickly turned around.

Leonard sat down. “ What was that about?” he whispered to Sheldon

“Half the battle is always psychological.” Sheldon whispered back.  “He has no idea what I am going to do, and it’s just driving him nuts.”

“What ARE you going to do?” Leonard whispered again.

“The genius never reveals his plans” Sheldon whispered back.

_That’s the thing about earthquakes.  You never know when one is going to come._

“That’s what she said!” Bernie yelled out, her face flushed red.  The whole table burst out into a fit of laughter.  The tables next to them were giving the rowdy table looks.  They all quickly did their shot.  Sheldon got up, and made his way to the washroom.

Sheldon’s phone started buzzing and fell off the table onto the floor.   Amy reached down to pick the phone.  A text message was on the front screen from a woman named Maria.

**Maria:**

**Hi Sheldon, I was really touched by your message.  I would like to meet.  Am I too late?  Can I meet you at the hotel?  Please phone me right away.**

Amy returned the phone to the table.  Her heart started beating faster.  Who was this woman?  What did Sheldon tell her that was so touching?   And why was coming here to meet him?  Sheldon wouldn’t try to make her feel jealous with another woman would he? Her heart started beating even faster.  Amy looked over at Barry’s table.  He looked nervous and twitchy, and his eye looked just awful.  She needed to talk to Barry but she just didn’t know what she was going to say to him….

 

  **A/N:  Lots happened here!  Lots more to come!  I don’t know why, but I love getting the gang drunk.  And the sourdough bread made a comeback!  Most importantly I got to feature my very favourite calculus joke.  I guess that statement indicates that I have more than one calculus joke (which is true), and that gives you a little insight into what a cool and hip person  I am.  Lol!  The next chapter might a bit of a long one, but I’m sure it’ll be over before you know it. _(That’s what she said!)_**


	16. Chapter 16

Amy stared at the phone sitting on the table. Who was Maria? He had never mentioned a woman named Maria to her before. She looked up from the table and saw Sheldon exit the washroom and head back towards the table. His eyes were ever so slightly glassy, and his face was flushed red. The alcohol must have started to affect him. He had a cute goofy kid grin on his face. He crashed back down into his chair and turned to her and gave her a big smile.

"Sheldon, your phone –" Amy started.

_These elements were critical in making the bedrock._

"That's what she said!" Sheldon yelled out at the table triumphantly. The table looked shocked, as Sheldon successfully made a that's what she said joke. The group took their shots. Bernadette was starting to hiccup, and Howard was rubbing her back.

"Wow, Sheldon sure is full of surprises lately isn't he? He's the last one I would think would make a that's what she said joke. I wasn't even sure he understood half of them" Penny snarked.

"Well, now that I understand the concept of the jokes, it's really quite elementary. Which is probably why you and Wolowitz suggested this. It's at your level." Sheldon replied.

"Aaaaand he's back to regular Sheldon." Leonard shook his head. Penny rolled her eyes at Sheldon, and stuck her tongue out at him.

Amy smiled brightly at Sheldon. She needed to stop being so insecure. Sheldon was acting perfectly normal, and she was sure he wouldn't act that way if there was another woman on the scene. She was actually surprised with how normal he was acting, considering how they had left things the other night. She leaned in towards him. "I really enjoyed that calculus joke you told me. I have one that I think you might find particularly scintillating."

"Scintillating?" Howard whispered to Bernadette. "They should record this and put it on Discovery Channel or something. How two socially awkward geniuses mate. Step One…the male and female prepare for copulation by performing a complex mating ritual that includes telling terrible math jokes, to get each other hot and bothered."

"Shhh…it's cute. I want to hear." Bernadette whispered back.

Amy turned towards Sheldon so she was facing him, and smiled. She tucked her hair back behind her ear and then began. "Ok, What does the "B" in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?" She started laughing. "It's stands for Benoit B. Mandelbrot!"

"A fractal joke! Oh Amy, its perfect!" Sheldon exclaimed as he gave her a warm smile.

Leonard smacked his hand to his forehead. "Oh…Good Lord.." Penny gave him a puzzled look.

"The mating dance is proving to be successful. Both geniuses appear to be primed for copulation. What will the next bold move be? Will the male tell another joke to get the female further primed, or will the female make a move by taking off a cardigan…to reveal another cardigan?" Howard whispered in a radio voice.

The group started snickering, but Amy had tuned them all out. She was gazing at Sheldon. Things were starting to feel right between them again. The next speaker took the stage, and the group turned their attention back to the stage. She took a sip of her water, and then looked up startled. Sheldon had placed his hand on her knee. His touch was light, he had just softly rested his large hand on her kneecap under the tablecloth. She gave him a small smile and gently placed her hand on top his hand and he turned to clutch it. His eyes were still on the stage, but he had a quiet smile across his face. He turned her hand over, still holding it, so his fingers still lightly touched her knee. He was running his finger over in the same pattern, over and over. She closed her eyes and realized that he was tracing her name, Amy, as he watched the stage. She smiled and held his hand a little tighter.

Barry Kripke was watching Amy from across the room. Their table was being quite loud and it was obvious to every table around them, that they were drinking quite heavily. Sheldon didn't look too much worse for wear after their tussle earlier that morning. Barry looked at Amy. She was wearing a knee length white dress, and a lilac cardigan. She had curled her hair, and was wearing earrings. God, she looked so beautiful. Why hadn't she responded to any of his emails? His texts? He had been watching her all evening from his table. She looked happy. Sheldon and her were leaning in towards each other and laughing. He could see that his hand was on her leg under the table. A wave of jealousy hit him as he watched them. Was Howard right? Did he pull a "dick move" by kissing Amy?

He shook his head. He didn't really feel it was a dick move to kiss her. He felt that they had been building towards that moment since they had met. The dick move, was probably taunting Sheldon about the kiss. He really shouldn't have done that, but Cooper just knew how to push his buttons sometimes. He really felt though, that there was something real there between Amy and him. The kiss with her took his breath away. He'd never kissed a girl that he had liked so much before. To be honest, she was probably the first girl he had really taken the time to get to know truly first. But she was Sheldon's girlfriend not his. Sure, Cooper was an idiot with Amy, but it was up to them to work or not work it out. He sighed…he knew that he should keep out of their relationship. It was just harder said than done at this point.

Sheldon was enjoying feeling Amy's small hand in his as he gently traced her name along her knee cap. He could feel her shiver and then grasp his hand tighter. What was he doing? He was supposed to be angry with her. When he saw her, it all melted away. Part of him was still upset though, he couldn't forget what Barry had said. His stomach was churning with the conflicting feelings. He didn't want to let go of Amy's hand though. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, but part of him wanted to make her feel bad. To feel the pain the same way he had felt.

Sheldon's phone started vibrating from a phone call. Maria flashed across the screen. He dropped Amy's hand. "I've got to go" he said abruptly, and rushed out of the room.

"Sheldon!" Amy called out, but he was already out of the room. What had just happened? One call from this mysterious Maria, and he just rushes out without even a word? Who was she?

_Let's take a brief break now folks and stretch our legs out. The presentations will reconvene in fifteen minutes._

"Oh Thank God!" Penny said as she stretched her back. "That last presentation was putting me to sleep." She glanced over at the empty chair beside Amy. "Where did Sheldon go?"

Amy twisted her hands. "I'm not sure" she said hesitantly. "I'm going to the bar to get a bottle of water. Do you guys want anything?"

The table all shook their heads no and continued chatting with each other. Amy got up and headed to the bar. She was feeling a little unsteady on her feet. She grabbed and held onto a stool in front of the bar to keep herself steady.

"Amy?"

Amy turned around and was staring right into the face of Barry Kripke. She winced when she saw his eye. "Barry…your eye. Are you ok?"

Barry stared at her. She looked even more breathtaking right up in front of him. "Oh this old thing, it's nothing…"

"I heard Sheldon – " Amy started

"Let's just leave that incident between us guys ok." Barry said quietly. He looked at the ground with an embarrassed look.

"I just can't believe it though. He's such a non-violent person, what happened?"

"Like I said, I'd rather not talk about it. It's between Sheldon and I. I do want to know though, why you haven't returned any of my messages? Texts? Phone calls? I've been worried about you Amy" he said sadly. "Amy, that last thing I'd ever want to do is upset you."

Amy bit her lip as she looked at Barry. Things had become such a mess between them. She felt so guilty about their kiss, she didn't even know where to begin. He was staring at her with large expectant eyes.

"Barry I'm so sorry. I should have responded to your messages. I've just been overwhelmed." She looked out towards the door, and then back into Barry's eyes. "That kiss should have never happened. And I understand, that I am not an innocent victim in all of this. I think I was feeling undesired, and you were feeling lonely. But things never should have gotten to that point. I only want to kiss someone that I am in love with. And for me, that's Sheldon." Amy said softly.

"Amy, that kiss. It meant –" Barry stopped himself. He wanted to tell her that their kiss was like nothing he had ever experienced in his life before. He wanted to tell her that he could give everything that she desired in a mate; love, attention, affection, respect. He wanted to tell her that he thought she was beautiful and amazing and that he would treat her like a princess, if only she gave him a chance. He saw that she kept glancing at the door waiting for Sheldon to return. He knew in his heart he couldn't do it. He might be falling for Amy, but it appeared that the feeling was not mutual. The words that Howard said to him earlier that evening was running through his head. To let them sort it out, and if Amy became single in the future, it wouldn't be because of his interference.

"I…I understand." Barry said softly and gave her a sad smile. "Could I ask you a favour though?"

"Anything" Amy whispered.

"Sheldon is planning something for tonight. Something to humiliate me. I know it. He's pissed at me Amy. This presentation, and possible award. This is a huge deal to me Amy…to my career. It's all I really got right now. Please, get him to pull the plug on whatever stunt he's planning to pull" Barry said urgently.

Penny, Emily and Bernadette stumbled up to Amy at the bar. Penny walked right up to Barry, and poked him in the chest with her finger. "Well, looky looky. Looks like this rat is STILL trying to cozy up to Amy. You need to back off." She poked him with her finger again.

"And you need to lay off the booze…" Barry replied in an annoyed tone, swatting her finger away.

"Excuse me! I'm not the only one drunk." Penny retorted.

"Yeah! We're all drunk!" Bernadette giggled.

Emily looked Barry up and down and gave Amy a little nudge. "Not bad Amy! You got those two to fight over you. That's pretty hot! Girlfriends got it going on!"

"Oh my God….." Amy shuddered. She turned to face the girls. "You guys..please go. I have this under control!" she hissed quietly.

"Fine..fine. You know where we are if you need back up" Penny replied.

Emily gave Barry a big smile. "Looking forward to your presentation Romeo!" She gave Barry a little swat on his behind. The three girls headed back to their table laughing.

"What the hell was that?" Barry said with a goofy smile on his face at Emily's move.

"Oh my god…I have no idea. Good thing Raj isn't around right now." Amy put her hand on Barry's arm "Listen, I'll talk with Sheldon about whatever he has planned ok?"

Barry looked up. "Well maybe you can tell him right now." He nodded towards the door to see one Sheldon Lee Cooper staring icily back at them.

_Could everyone please return to their seats, the presentations will resume again shortly._

Sheldon was already sitting at the table. He grabbed the bottle of Jägermeister and poured himself a shot and quickly drank it. His hands were shaking slightly and he was just staring down at the tablecloth. His eyes almost looked watery. Amy quietly sat down beside him. Sheldon kept staring at the tablecloth, not acknowledging her presence.

Amy leaned in towards Sheldon. "Sheldon, are you upset because I was speaking with Barry? I was just making it – "

"You seem drawn to him like a moth to a flame…" Sheldon muttered.

"Sheldon! That's not true at all. I was telling him how I truly-"

"Would you two please be quiet! I'm trying to listen to the presenations!" a lady huffed at the table next to them.

Sheldon turned so that he was facing the stage again, and started listening. Amy wanted to continue talking to Sheldon but starting to fear getting lynched by all their neighbouring tables for annoying them up to this point. Sheldon's demeanour had totally changed. Before the phone call they had been holding hands under the table, with him lightly stroking her knee. Now he wasn't even looking at her. He wasn't staring at the stage either. He was staring at Kripke with a funny look on his face.

Amy began to feel nervous. Was Kripke right? Was Sheldon planning to pull something during the awards presentation? Amy gave a quick glance at the cranky woman at the next table. Oh well, to hell with her. "Sheldon?" she whispered.

Sheldon looked at her, but didn't say anything. His face looked very flushed and he was breathing quickly.

"Sheldon, are you planning some sort of rev-" Amy started.

"Excuse me" Sheldon got up and left the table. He walked quickly along the side of the room towards the stage. He signaled the man that was sitting at the computer running the presentations. That man scurried over to the side of the room to meet him. Sheldon whispered something to him and then handed him a small item which he slipped into his pocket. He then returned to the computer.

Barry watched the exchange between Sheldon and the man at the computer. He glanced at Amy and gave her a worried look. Amy gave him a perplexed look back. Sheldon returned to his seat and sat down.

"Sheldon, what is going on? What did you give that man? You don't even have a presentation tonight." Amy asked.

"SSSSHHH!" the woman at the next table hissed.

"Oh shut up! It's just Geology, who cares" Amy hissed back.

Sheldon gave Amy a sad look. "At least I can sleep at night."

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" Amy asked urgently.

Sheldon's phone lit up again with a text.

**Maria: Can I still meet you? I really want to come. Perhaps it can be a new beginning for both of us.**

Amy looked up at Sheldon startled by what she just read. Sheldon stared back at Amy with a sad look in his eyes. He grabbed his phone and hit reply.

**Sheldon: I agree. I think a new beginning is exactly what is needed. Come. You know where to find me.**

Amy's eye's filled with tears. What was going on? Who was Sheldon Cooper? Plotting revenge…meeting up with strange women. New beginnings? She turned to Sheldon. "I can't believe you! I'm totally disappointed that plotting some revenge is more important to you than anything else. Our relationship. Us?! I believed those words you wrote in your journal, but I'm beginning to think everything is a lie. You don't care about me! You just want to make yourself feel better!" Amy pushed back her chair and ran out of the room.

"Amy!" Sheldon called out and rushed out after her.

Amy was running down the hall in the hotel. She was done. She needed to get out of there. She was in no mood to fight with Sheldon. This whole thing was just horribly immature, and she was sick of it. Revenge plots on Barry. Talking to other women to make her jealous. She continued running down the hall, she was unsteady on her feet from all the shots they had done. The high heels weren't helping either.

"Amy!" Sheldon called out. He was quickly gaining on her. "Stop! You need to stop running away!" he yelled.

Amy grabbed a door, to the stairwell, and ran in. Sheldon's arm grabbed hers and slammed the door shut. They looked at their surroundings. This wasn't the stairwell, the room was filled with sheets and towels. She had run into the linen supply closet.

"God Amy, how can you run like that in those cockamamie high heels?" Sheldon panted.

"Sheldon, let me go. I'm done. I'm sick playing stupid games. I know I hurt you, but that is no reason to go on this stupid revenge scheme you've cooked up. I'm a grown woman, I don't want to play this game anymore. Let me go." Amy shoved Sheldon aside and made her way to the door.

"Amy wait. Let me explain-" Sheldon started.

Amy rattled the door knob. She looked up at Sheldon. "It's locked."

**A/N: Sorry I know said this would be a long chapter, but it's longish. I need more time to write the next chapter, so I thought this was a good stopping point. You got a fractal joke this time! Sheldon and Amy are locked in the supply closet, Maria's on her way, and what did Sheldon give the media coordinator? Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

Sheldon walked over to the door.  “What do you mean it’s locked?”  He started rattling the door knob.  He looked at Amy alarmed.  “Use your phone to call Leonard.  He’ll get us out of here.”

Amy raised her hands up. “Do I look like I have my phone?  It’s in my purse…” she paused.  “Which I left hanging on my chair.  Where’s your phone?  You are the one with pockets.”

“It’s on the table….” Sheldon bit his lip.  “Dammit” he muttered.

Amy looked at Sheldon irritated.  “Well, you are adept at breaking into my apartment.  Can’t you pick the lock or something and get us out?”

“With what Amy?  These facecloths and hand towels?  I had tools when I picked your lock.  You know you have a bad habit of forgetting your purse everywhere” Sheldon muttered.  He started pacing around the small room.  “Oh God…I feel claustrophobic in here.”  He glanced at his watch.

Amy glared at Sheldon.  “Oh I’m sorry.  Am I keeping you from your meeting with Maria?” she hissed angrily.

Sheldon stopped in his tracks and stared at Amy.  “Actually yes, you are Amy.  If you hadn’t run off like a crazy person, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Amy stood up to him angrily.  “A crazy person!  Excuse me for being upset that my boyfriend is meeting up with another woman.  To start a new beginning?  Are you just trying to punish me?”

Sheldon glared at her. “Wow…is that really what you think of me?”  He crossed his arms across his chest and continued staring at her.  “Let me remind you, that it was you that kissed someone else.  I never did, nor would I do such a thing” he said angrily.  He started pacing through the rows of bed sheets and towels.  “I’ve been doing everything in my power to erase the image I have in my head of you kissing another man…no, not just another man…Kripke of all people.  I have to work with this man everyday.  I tried to focus on our happy times, how I feel when I am with you.  I’m trying to be more expressive about how I feel.    I leave the room for a minute, and you two immediately are together again.   Do you know how hard this is for me?  To see you two together?  Have you ever thought about that?” Sheldon sputtered.

“So what is this?   Is this an eye for an eye?  You go out and seek out another woman to make me feel what you felt? ” Amy said wearily.  “That’s not how love works.”

“You are right….that is not how love works at all” Sheldon said coldly.  He took a fitted sheet off of the shelf and started to refold it.  “People never fold these correctly....” he muttered.  Sheldon finished refolding the sheet properly and then looked over at Amy sadly.  “You really don’t think much of me do you?”

Amy wiped a tear from her eye.  “I don’t know what to think anymore.  I just keep hearing different things that don’t make any sense.  Like you punching Barry.  The pranks you pulled at his office.  That you have some scheme dreamed up to humiliate him in front of everyone tonight. Texting a strange woman and telling me nothing about her.   You are not exactly behaving like someone who has nothing to hide right now.”

Sheldon walked right up to her and looked her in the eye.  “For a scientist, you make too many assumptions.  You don’t know everything do you?  Maria, isn’t who you think.”

* * *

 

Barry glanced nervously at Amy’s table.  Amy and Sheldon had been gone for over twenty minutes, and his presentation was due to go up any minute now.  Did she manage to talk to Sheldon?  He didn’t see either of them talk to the presentation coordinator after Sheldon went up.   Did she talk to Sheldon, and that was why he went up there.  Or was it the opposite?  What was going to flash on the screen?  The worst was flashing before his eyes in his mind…strippers, drunken nights out, call girls.  Omg…he was going to be humiliated.  He looked out at the crowd.  There were table after table filled with the who’s who of the physics world.  Barry wiped the sweat off his forehead, his stomach was churning.  This was going to a disaster, he just knew it.

A small woman with light blue eyes entered the room.  She looked across the room for table twelve, until she finally saw it.  There were two empty chairs and a group of people that appeared to be laughing uncontrollably.    She quickly walked up the side of the room and then over to table twelve.

“Excuse me?  I’m looking for Dr. Sheldon Cooper?” she asked softly.

“Cooooppaaaaah!” Raj exclaimed loudly.  The whole table started laughing. 

“Hey where is Sheldon?” Leonard asked.

“I don’t know.  Him and Amy ran off like half an hour ago.  Maybe he told her the mother of all math jokes, and they ran off to have sex in a closet” Howard laughed.

“Oh Howard, you know that Sheldon probably has a coitus agreement that says they are only allowed to have to have sex in pre-approved places and time.  Ha!  Like those two would be having coitus...” Penny joked.

“Oooh Oooh…I have a math joke.  If I tell it, Emily, will you get all hot and bothered?” Raj slurred.

“Only if it’s really funny” Emily said mischievously.

“Ok…here it is.  Sex is like fractions.  It’s improper to for the larger one to be on top.”  A dead silence went across the table.  They all looked at each other.

“That’s what she said!” Bernie yelled out.  The table cheered and they all took their shots.  The small woman’s eyes went large as she watched the scene before her.

“Uuuummm….is it ok if I sit and wait for Dr. Cooper here?” she asked.

Penny pulled out Amy’s chair and patted it.  “Only if you join in on our game”.  The womans face went pale and she started shaking her head no.  “Oh that’s ok…more for us.” Penny smiled.  “Feel free to sit here.  I’m sure Sheldon will be back any minute.  What’s your name by the way?”

The woman smiled at Penny.  “My name is Maria.”

* * *

 

“Who is Maria then?” Amy questioned.

Sheldon sighed at Amy and turned himself back towards the shelf of fitted sheets.  He pulled out three more fitted sheets and started refolding them.  He looked up at Amy.  “What’s the point in telling you?  You’ve already decided that I’m this terrible person.” Sheldon said.

Amy groaned in frustration.  The room seemed hot, and it felt like it was getting hotter by the minute.  She looked up at Sheldon  who was folding the sheets with great concentration.  He was acting cagey, and he was probably acting cagey because he had something to hide.  She knew she was right, and he was just trying to hide it.  The colours in the room seemed brighter, more vivid.  Was this the effect of the alcohol?  She stared at Sheldon as he was methodically folding the sheets, and could feel her frustration rising.  He was the one keeping secrets.  He was the one was lashing out immaturely.  He was the one kept her at arm’s reach all these years.  He was the one that wouldn’t push his own damn comfort zone.  And now he was standing there calmly folding sheets, ignoring her.  She could feel the anger welling up to the point where she couldn’t keep it in anymore.  “You know…I really hate you sometimes” she said coldly.

Sheldon’s eyes went wide as he put down the sheet and stared at her.  His face flushed red with anger.  ”What!!?  You hate me?  No, I really hate YOU sometimes Amy Farrah Fowler!” he snapped back.

“I hate all your stupid rules and regulations about absolutely everything!” Amy yelled as she stood by the door and faced him at the shelf.

“I hate that you are too timid to say how you really feel, go along with everything, and then get mad later!” Sheldon responded his blue eyes blazing bright.

“I hate how you never told me how you really felt about me, and showed me in any way shape or form!” Amy stepped one step closer to Sheldon angrily.

“I hate how you try to manipulate me to behave how you think I ought to” Sheldon stepped one step closer to Amy, his face flushing more red.

“I hate what a condescending know it all you are!” Amy sputtered.

“I hate how you take zero interest in my hobbies!” Sheldon responded.

“I hate your stupid comic book shirts.  Dress like a grown up!” Amy said as she poked his blue shirt.  “Are you wearing one of your dumb t-shirts under this shirt?”

Sheldon ripped off his suit jacket and tie and tossed it onto shelf..  He pulled open his collar and showed her his collarbone.  “No! See!  No stupid t-shirt.  I hate your stupid cardigans.  You are not a Matryoshka Doll!”

“Fine!” Amy said angrily back.  She ripped off her lilac cardigan and threw it on top of Sheldon’s suit jacket and tie.  “I hate how you talk down to Howard!”

“I hate how you do whatever Penny says.  It’s like you’re afraid to be your own person.”

“Well, I hate tea!”

“I hate your stupid harp!”

“I hate Star Wars!  It’s so contrived and childish!” Amy snapped.  Sheldon gasped at her comment.

“I hate Chaucer!  He’s nothing but a medieval peddler of erotica!”

“Well I hate Koalas!”

Sheldon stopped dead in his tracks.  “Really Amy?  Nobody is going to believe that…it’s impossible to hate koalas.”  Sheldon and Amy were now face to face, both of their faces flushed red with anger.

“I hate how I never measure up.  I finally have a boyfriend, and I still don’t measure up” Amy said with her voice cracking.

Sheldon’s voice got very quiet.  “I hate that you couldn’t have one ounce of faith in me, that I could do the right thing.  I hate that Barry’s lips ever touched yours.  I hate that he took our first real kiss away from us.  I hate how beautiful you are, it distracts me constantly.  I hate how smart you are, because I constantly need to know what you think.  I hate how thoughtful you are, cause it makes me feel like a selfish jerk.  I hate that with everything that happened with Kripke, that I still can’t hate you.  I want to hate you, but I can’t.  I don’t even hate you a little bit.  Not really, at all…” his voice cracked and his eyes started to go red.  He walked up to the wall and slid slowly so he was sitting on the floor.  He was holding his head between his hands.

Amy kneeled in front of him.  Tears started flowing down her face.   The depth that he was hurting was becoming apparent to her.  “I’m so sorry Sheldon.  I’m so sorry for hurting you.  I’m sorry for turning to Barry instead of coming to you when I was unhappy.”  She grabbed his hand and put it against her heart.  “My heart belongs to you, and the memory of our kiss on Sunday is the one that is burned into my heart.  The one that I treasure.  Sheldon, it’s always been you.  Only you.”

They sat there for a moments.  Sheldon’s hand over Amy’s heart.  She gently placed her hands on his.   They stared into each others eyes, Sheldon could feel her heart beating rapidly.  “Amy?” Sheldon started.

“Yes” she whispered softly.

“I’m sorry too.  I’m sorry for not treating you the way you deserved to be treated.  It’s not you that doesn’t measure up, it’s me.  I feel like I’ve failed you in so many ways…” Sheldon started.

“Ssshhhh” Amy said as she put her fingers across his lips.  “I think we are both done apologizing now.”    She leaned over and embraced him.  He put his arms around her tightly and held her close for endless minutes.  She could feel the hurt start to fade away.  They were coming back to the truth.  They were simply just Sheldon and Amy who loved each other.  That was their truth. 

Amy slowly ran her fingers over the cut under Sheldon’s eye.  She smiled.  “I hate how hot you look with this bruise under your eye”  She gave the cut a light kiss.  Sheldon stared into her green eyes and gave her a shy smile.

“I hate how far away you are from me.” Sheldon whispered.  Amy smiled because she was kneeling right in front of him.  Sheldon pulled her in closer so that she was straddling his lap on the floor.  He gently stroked her face and then brought her in for a kiss.  His lips lightly grazed hers.  She responded by gently kissing him back.  He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her in for a deep kiss.  She responded with passion, and soon they were back in the place that they had reached on Sunday.  The desire the hunger was bubbling up in both of them.

Amy broke the kiss and put her forehead against Sheldon’s.  They both were panting from the vigour of their kiss.  “I hate this blue shirt of yours….I hate it so much” she whispered in his ear.  She looked into his blue eyes and then started undoing the buttons of his shirt.  He watched her intently as she slowly slipped the shirt off his body.  She took her hand and slowly ran it down his chest.

Sheldon pulled Amy back in and started kissing her again.  Their kissing became more heated and passionate as she ran her fingers through his short brown hair.  He nuzzled in towards her ear.  “I hate your dress Amy….white is not your colour.”  He bit her earlobe and sucked it gently.

“Well white is my colour…in the traditional sense” she whispered as Sheldon kissed down her neck.

“Not for long…” he growled into her ear.  Sheldon reached behind her and slowly pulled down the zipper of her dress. They both stood up.   He slowly slipped the dress off her shoulders to reveal a knee length satin slip.  His eyes went dark as he gazed at Amy.

Amy crossed her arms across her chest, her face flushed with embarrassment.  “I…I…Nobody has ever seen me this exposed before..” she stuttered nervously.

 “I didn’t think you could look more breathtaking that I had imagined, but I was wrong.” He whispered.  He lightly stroked his hand down her shaking arm as he gazed at Amy.  “Amy…you know you are beautiful don’t you?”

“Well, I never felt – “ Amy started softly.

“Well, let me assure you, that you are.”  Sheldon backed her up towards the wall pinned her against it.  The started kissing again passionately, and then he started lightly sucking her neck, all while running his hands down her waist and along her backside.

“Amy?” Sheldon panted.

“Oh God Sheldon…Yes” she moaned.

“Did I ever tell you how much I hate this slip?”

* * *

 

Barry fidgeted around in his seat.  Amy and Sheldon were still not at their table, and now there was a woman sitting there.  He watched as the MC took the stage to introduce him.

_I would like to introduce Dr. Barry Kripke, a lead particle physicist at Caltech.  His research in B Meson Decay, has been ground breaking.  We are privileged to hear him speak tonight on this subject, and a number of experiments that his research has initiated at the CERN lab near Geneva.  Please give a warm welcome to Dr. Kripke._

Barry walked to the podium as the crowd clapped.  On the podium was a laser pointer, and remote to advance the PowerPoint presentation.  His heart was racing as he stared at the remote.  What was going to flash on the screen?  He hesitantly picked up the remote.  He could feel sweat start to gather around his collar.  He cleared his throat, but it still felt dry and parched.  With all the courage he could muster, he grabbed the remote and clicked forward .  His first slide appeared on the screen just as he had created it earlier, with no alterations.  He let out a big sigh.  Hopefully there were not surprises further in the presentation.

“Thank-you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening…” Barry began.

Table twelve was a drunken mess. The table was littered with shot glasses and four bottles of Jägermeister.  Leonard looked up keenly as Barry took the stage.  “Sssshh!” Leonard hissed.  “I want to hear Barry’s presentation.”

“Why?” Penny asked.  “Too bad we don’t have tomatoes..”

“Well first because his research is really cool actually.  And second, because I’m curious as hell on what Sheldon has planned.”  Leonard looked over at the woman who was sitting at their table in Amy’s seat.  He whispered to Penny.  “Who is that?”

“I don’t know who she is…her name is Maria…she was looking for Sheldon.  I don’t know where him and Amy went.  They’ve been gone for a long time now.”  They stared at Maria, as her eyes were glued to the stage.  She had her hands clasped to her chest, and they were lightly shaking.

Leonard turned his attention back to Barry’s presentation.  He leaned over to Penny.  “I don’t know what Sheldon planned, but Barry’s presentation is going really well.  He’s done some pretty spectacular research.”

“Oh who knows with Sheldon.  He probably changed a comma to a semi colon and thinks he’s an evil genius or something.”

Barry wrapped up his presentation, and took a number of questions from the audience.  It had gone really well, and his presentation did not seem altered in any way.   Barry walked off the stage and over to the side of the room and breathed a sigh of relief.   A woman with deep dark blue eyes stared at him as he leaned against wall.  She smiled to herself .  “Good Job Barry” she whispered as she watched him from across the room.

* * *

 

“Mmmmmm” Sheldon moaned as Amy kissed up his neck.  “Why did we wait so long to do this”  Amy grinned at him, and put a soft kiss on his lips. They both looked completely disheveled.  Amy was just wearing her short satin slip that she had underneath her dress, Sheldon reduced to his boxer briefs.  Sheldons hair was sticking up every which way, and his lips were slightly red from Amy’s lipstick.

Amy straddled him as he lay on their makeshift towel bed that Sheldon had created using a whole shelf of towels and sheets.   She lightly traced his lips with her finger.  “For somebody that is not fond of sports, you are very good at baseball.”

“Baseball?” Sheldon said with a questioning look.

“Oh you know…first base, second base, third base….” She smiled at him as she continued running her finger along his lips.

“Oh!  Those bases.  You know I am a quick learner.”  He grinned at her  “Well we haven’t crossed home plate yet …You know I don’t like to leave things unfinished” he whispered in her ear.   He started pulling Amy down so that she was laying on the bed underneath him.

“Sheldon, I don’t want our first time to be on the floor of a linen closet.  Someone could walk in on us at any moment.” Amy said.

Sheldon looked at the door thoughtfully.  “I guess I agree.  This is not the optimal location for sure.  We will need to find our perfect origin for lovemaking….but I’m pretty sure our  0,0,0,0 is in my bed ”  He looked at Amy and grinned.  “You did not seem too worried about our location though when we were crossing second base….third base?”

“Sheldon!  I should have never explained all the bases to you! ” Amy laughed as her face went red.

He nuzzled into her neck and started kissing her.  “Second base was so nice….third base was even better.”  He started sucking on her neck, his hands traveling up the bodice of her slip.

“Ok we better stop, or you’ll be looking to slide in for a homerun.” Amy laughed.  They lay there for a while just holding each other, listening to each other’s heart beat.

“Sheldon?”

“Yes?” he answered in a soft whisper.

“I don’t want to bring up a bad topic.  But, I wanted to ask you about a few things you said tonight.  You said that I had no faith in you.  You also never told me who Maria is.  I know now she is not another woman to you, and I’m so sorry for ever suggesting that.  “

Sheldon took a big breath. “Yes, I think I owe you an explanation.  I don’t come off great in this story, but I was quite upset.  I don’t want you to be disappointed in me. ” He bit his lip and looked at her.

Amy stroked his arm.  “You can tell me anything.  Don’t feel bad…I love you Sheldon, I know how upset you were.”

He sighed.  “Ok let me start from the beginning.  When I found about the kiss, I was so angry Amy.  I just wanted to kill Barry Kripke.  To make him pay…to humiliate him in the worst way possible.  I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I thought I could at least irritate him to begin with.  I went to work and broke into his office.  I set up quite a few pranks in his office…the superglue, his coffeemaker, his radio, his phone, I installed a program on his computer that would keep crashing it…you know…general run of the mill stuff.”

“Ok….” Amy responded.

“I spied a photo frame that was tucked beside his monitor, but hidden by a stack of papers.  It was a photo of a woman and a baby.  I pulled the photo out of the frame, and there was a date written on the back.  I deduced by the date, and Barry’s age, that that must have been a picture of him and his mother.  I didn’t know too much about his mother, he never really mentioned much about his family before, so I did some digging.  I found out that – “

“-his mother abandoned him as a toddler.” Amy said quietly.

“Yes.” Sheldon said quietly.  “Amy, I was so angry at this point.  I didn’t care…I just wanted him to suffer.  It was obvious by the fact that he keeps that photo on his desk, that he can see every single day, that he still cares a lot about this woman.  I was determined to find her.   I wanted him to look like a failure in front of his mother.”  He looked at Amy worriedly.  “Amy , I know this sounds really terrible of me…but please know, I changed my mind.”

“I searched all the databases I could think of, and then I found her here in LA of all places.  Her name was – “

“-Maria.” Amy answered.

“Yes.”  Sheldon cleared his throat.  “I phoned her, and told her I was a colleague of Barry’s and that it was Barry’s great wish that she see him achieve success.  She was nervous, and very regretful of her past, but I convinced her that this could be a new beginning for the two of them.”

“Oh Sheldon…”

“I hacked into his computer, and got his presentation.  I changed all sorts of things, so that he would look a fool in front of everyone.  He would be humiliated, and his mother would be there to witness it.   But I couldn’t do it.  As mad as I was I couldn’t do that to him.”

“What do you mean?” Amy said puzzled.  “It still looked like you were still planning something?”

“Well that night, after I changed his presentation…I just couldn’t hit save.  I couldn’t do it.  I was angry, and I hated him, but I couldn’t do that to him.  I changed one slide in his presentation, with a minor error, that only another particle physicist would notice.  Just as my small revenge.  I texted Maria, and told her not to come.  That it would upset Kripke too much.  She kept texting questions about Barry.  I just didn’t know what to do.  I was upset with him, I didn’t want to continue talking about him, and holding up this charade.  I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about it.  The next morning, I opened the presentation, and removed the small error I had inserted, and copied it to the flash drive.  The coordinator had the copy with the small error, but I had the perfect one on a flash drive in my pocket.

“During the dinner, Maria called me. I went out to the hall to answer her call.  She still wanted to come, she wanted to see Barry, she was obsessing over seeing him because she hadn’t seen him in over thirty years.  When I was talking to her it all hit me.  That I had everything.  That I was so blessed.  That I have an amazing girlfriend, a loving mom, my MeeMaw, friends that care about me.  He did everything on his own.  Maybe he deserved to have that moment, where he could shine in front of his mom.  He could at least have that.  I texted Maria back and told her to come.  I gave the coordinator the copy of the presentation that was perfect with no errors.  So that takes us to now.”

Amy teared up.  She stroked Sheldon’s face.  “I can’t believe you found it in your heart to be kind to Barry, after everything that happened.  You are right, I should have had more faith in you.  You really do have a kind soul.”  She wiped a tear from her eye.  “To be honest, if the shoe were on the other foot, the “other woman” would have been ripped apart by cocaine addled monkeys by now….I don’t think I could look the other way and think of her they way you did for Barry.”  She turned and gave Sheldon a big hug.

“Housekeeping!” a voice called faintly down the hall.

“Oh my God!  They are coming down the hall.  We need to bang on the door so that they can let us out!” Amy yelled as she jumped up to find her dress.

Sheldon started banging on the door.  “Help!  Let us out of here!”  He banged loudly on the door.

Amy smiled and handed Sheldon his pants.  “Put these on, or you are going to give the maids quite an eyeful!”

“That’s what she said?” Sheldon smirked.  Amy rolled her eyes and laughed.

She quickly zipped up her dress , while Sheldon hopped into his pants.  She continued banging on the door. 

“Hello?” a voice said on the other side of the door.  Sheldon was almost done buttoning up his shirt.  They heard the door rattle and slowly open.

“Oh Thank God!  We’ve been trapped in here for over an hour!  I really must talk to management about these locks, and proper signage!” Sheldon exclaimed.

“Oh Good Lord!  Look at this room!  What did you do in here!” the maid exclaimed.

“Sorry!  Gotta run!”  Sheldon grabbed Amy’s hand and they ran back towards the ballroom.

* * *

 

_It is now time to present the Carl David Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Physics.  Carl David Anderson was a Nobel Laureate that did research at our distinguished university.._

Sheldon and Amy rushed back into the ballroom, and back to their table.  Sheldon grabbed a small pad of paper that was in his suit jacket, and pulled out a pen and started writing a note quickly.  He folded the paper, and held it in his hands.

Bernadette looked Sheldon and Amy up and down at their rumpled clothes and messy hair.  Sheldon’s lips looked a little more rosy than normal, and Amy’s slip was showing from under her dress.  Howard leaned in towards Bernie “Hey, maybe I wasn’t too far off with the sex in the closet suggestion” he said nodding at Sheldon and Amy.

“Dr. Cooper?” Maria said as she looked up at the tall physicist.

“Maria.  I’m so sorry I was not here greet you.  Did you make it on time to watch Barry’s presentation?” Sheldon asked.

“Oh I did! It was amazing.  I can’t believe –“

“-Sorry to interrupt, but you may want to see this.” Sheldon whispered as he pointed to the stage.

_The winner of the award this year is trailblazing the way with four internationally praised publications for his work in M Theory, with the latest ground breaking paper just released the other week on light cone quantization.  I have no doubt that he will join the ranks of the nobel laureates at Caltech.  The winner of the Carl David Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Physics is awarded to Dr. Barry Kripke._

Maria gasped as tears started running from her light blue eyes.  Barry stood up to head towards the stage, when Sheldon rushed towards him.  Barry stepped back quickly as Sheldon approached him.  Sheldon handed him the folded piece of paper.

“Truce Kripke.  Please read this after you received you award.”  Sheldon cleared his throat.  “Congratulations on the award.  It was….well deserved.”

Barry looked at Sheldon suspiciously.  “How do I know this isn’t part of some plan to make a fool of me in front of everyone?”

“It’s not.” Sheldon said softly “Because…..because I love Amy.”  He turned around and headed back towards table twelve.  He grabbed Amy’s hand and they both looked up towards the stage.

Barry walked up to the stage clutching Sheldon’s note.  President Siebert was standing smiling with  a certificate and a plaque with the award’s name on it.  He shook his hand of the president, received his award, and then took to the microphone to give his thanks.  The crowd was clapping loudly in response, and he looked over and saw Sheldon and Amy in an embrace, both smiling at him.  He closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him. He was so successful in some aspects of his life, but other parts of his life were such a disaster.  Love seemed to always elude him.   While  still at the podium, Barry opened the note from Sheldon with shaking hands.

_Barry, tonight I’m letting go of everything that happened between us for Amy’s sake.  I’ve been blessed in my life, and have taken it for granted.  I was given everything, where you struggled to get where you are today.  Your mother Maria is here today, she is sitting at my table.  She doesn’t expect you to speak to her, but would be happy if you did.  I know that she is important to you, so take heart in the fact that she got to see you achieve great success.  Sheldon._

Barry dropped the paper and looked over at table twelve.  There was a small woman, with light blue eyes…his eyes, crying and clapping loudly.  It was his mother, she looked different, but also the same.    He didn’t know what to do, he was flooded with emotions; joy, pain, anger, hurt, longing.  He did the only thing he could do in that moment…he gave her a small smile.  He knew nothing would ever quite be the same again.

 

**A/N:  That was the longest chapter I’ve ever written.  Sorry it was so long, I couldn’t find a good place to break, and I wanted the back and forth of Sheldon and Amy’s story, and Barry’s story at the Dinner.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Only one chapter left!**


	18. Chapter 18

A week had passed since the faculty awards dinner.  So much had happened during the past week, mainly to do with winning the Physics Award and also stemming from reuniting with his mother.  Barry’s email had been flooded with congratulations, invitations, paper requests from all over the world.  He had even received an invitation to spend one month at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.  He shook his head in disbelief, his career was really taking off.

Barry picked up his phone and opened his music app.  He scrolled down to Radiohead and hit play.  The music synced to his stereo, and the soft calming music began to stream out.  He picked up the picture of him and his mother, and leaned back in his office chair and put his feet up on his desk.  He gazed at the photo and then closed his eyes. 

The night of the faculty dinner when he saw his mother’s face for the first time, he felt so many emotions that he pretty much couldn’t speak.  He just kept staring at her.  He saw so many pieces of him in her.  His eyes were her eyes, her mouth was his mouth, the way she smiled…. 

It took every ounce of courage he had to walk up to her after the dinner.  The group had cleared out, and she was sitting alone at the table.  Shakily, he had pulled up a chair and sat down beside her, and quietly said hello.  Tears had started streaming down her face as she smiled at him.  “My sweet Barry…you’re so handsome, you look just like your grandfather” she had whispered.  She told him that she wasn’t expecting that he would want to speak with her, and that it was more of a blessing than she ever deserved.  They both sat there in silence, just looking at each other.  He couldn’t bring himself to speak that night, he was too overcome with emotion.  Finally she wrote down her contact information, and told him that it would mean to world to her if he contacted her one day.

After staring at her email address and phone number all week, he finally wrote her an email on Friday, asking her if she would like to have lunch with him the next day.  She quickly replied that she would.  They met for lunch, but he had still found it difficult to speak.  He managed to answer her questions with short sentences, but the words kept getting caught in his throat.   It was alright though, because he discovered that his mother was extremely chatty.  She tearily told him her story of marrying too young to his emotionally abusive alcoholic father.  How his father’s domineering family scared her.  How her biggest regret was not taking him with her when she ran away, but she was so scared of what his family might do to her.  She filled him in on her side of the family.  His maternal grandmother, grandfather and what they were both like.  His mother was very witty, sharp and intelligent.  He found himself drawn to her, aching to hear more and know more about her and her family….his family.

Barry had always felt like an alien in his own family.  He couldn’t relate to his dad, or his paternal grandparents at all.  He did his best to avoid them for the most part, and succeeded to a degree by spending most of his time in the library or out with friends as a child and teenager.  Once he had gotten his full scholarship to Columbia University, his contact with them had been minimal.  They didn’t seem too upset with his lack of communication.  They had not even bothered to attend his graduation.  That was the real reason that he left New York to go to the west coast.  It wasn’t to meet hot chicks, like he had told Amy.  It was to have a fresh start in a new place, that wasn’t riddled with bad memories.

He finally felt a connection when he listened to his mom talk about her past, her interests and especially her father.  He sounded very similar to him in so many ways.  Kripke looked at the photo again.   He still held a lot of pain from losing his mother all those years ago, but he did feel like a big piece of him, a gaping hole that was missing was slowly being filled.  He didn’t know how their relationship would progress from here, but the only thing he could do was to play it by ear. 

Barry looked up as he heard two familiar voices talking in the hall.  It was Sheldon and Amy talking as they walked towards Sheldon’s office.  He could hear them both laughing.  They both seemed really happy together again.  Amy always had a huge smile on her face, and Sheldon seemed more relaxed and happy.  He seemed sharper at work, more focused.  This was the prodigy that he had heard about all these years.  He was finally shining.   Barry sighed and shook his head.  He knew what he was missing in his life.    It was someone to share all the happy moments with.  Someone he could share his successes and his failures with.  Someone that was truly on his side.

When he had met Amy, he honestly felt in his heart that maybe she could be that person for him.  He knew that she was with Sheldon, but he felt such a strong connection with her.  Like she saw past his speech impediment, she seemed to genuinely like him.  She didn’t look at him like he was some freak.  The words of the Radiohead song playing felt like they were speaking about him.

_I don’t care if it hurts_

_I want to have control_

_I want a perfect body_

_I want a perfect soul_

_I want you to notice_

_When I’m not around_

_You’re so fucking special_

_I wish I was special_

_But I’m a creep_

_I’m a weirdo_

_What the hell am I doing here_

_I don’t belong here_

_Whatever makes you happy_

_Whatever you want_

 

A woman with dark blue eyes walked up to the door of Barry’s office.  She stood there listening to the sad song playing from his stereo.  Barry’s door was slightly ajar, she saw that he was leaned back on his chair with his feet up and his eyes closed.  He looked so sad sitting there clutching a photo frame.  She held up her hand to knock on the door, but stopped herself.  What would he think if she approached him now?  He’d just think she was talking to him due to his recent successes.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  She had liked him for a while now, but she was scared of putting herself out there.  She had heard all sorts of stories about him, but she wanted to get to know him herself, free from outside bias.  She thought he was cute, funny and definitely brilliant.  She heard a noise of someone approaching.  She quickly turned around and exited the hall.

Barry continued listening to the song when he heard a knock on his door.

“Barry?” a woman’s voice called.

Barry looked up and saw Amy standing at his door.  He quickly sat up, put the photo back on his desk and grabbed the remote to his stereo to turn the music off.  He cleared his throat.  “Amy!  I’m surprised to see you” he said nervously.

Amy smiled at him.  “I haven’t gotten the chance to properly congratulate you on your award Barry.  Sheldon’s told me that lots of big things are happening for you.  That’s really great, I’m so happy for you.”  She entered his office but stood near his door.

“Oh Amy, It’s been unbelievable.  I didn’t realize what that award meant to my career.  I’ve been getting emails from all over the world.  It’s been really incredible” Barry said softly.

“That’s so great.  You earned it Barry” Amy smiled.  She looked gave him a concerned look “Umm…how did it go with your mom?  Did you end up talking to her?”

Barry glanced at the photo on his desk.  “I did….”he began quietly.  He paused,  “It was really hard…but good to see her. Life changing actually.   I guess in a crazy turn of events, I have Sheldon to thank for that.”  He cleared his throat.  “Is Sheldon ok with you talking to me?” he asked curiously.

“He knows I’m here.  I told him.  We’re being very honest with each other.  Things are good with us, really good.”  Amy broke out into a smile as she thought of Sheldon.

If there was any doubt in Barry’s mind about Sheldon and Amy, this moment sealed the deal.  Amy positively glowed when she spoke about Sheldon.  It radiated from her.  Barry gave her a gentle smile and thought about the lyrics to the song.  _Whatever Makes you Happy….Whatever you want…._ He just wanted to see Amy happy, and she clearly was with Sheldon.

“I’m happy for you Amy…Really I am.” Barry said quietly.  He got up and walked towards the door.

“Thank-you Barry.  It means a lot to me.  I just wanted to let you know, that you really are an amazing person.  Never forget that ok?” Amy said earnestly.

Barry smiled at her and she smiled back.  “I better go” Amy said.  “Good-Bye Barry” she whispered.  She started walking down the hall.  Barry leaned against his door and watched as she slowly disappeared down the hall.

“Goodbye Red” he whispered to himself.

Barry walked back into his office and sat down.  He thought about Amy’s words….maybe he wasn’t the creep.  Maybe he could make a fresh start when meeting girls, and not try to move too fast.  He turned to his computer and saw that there was a new email in his inbox.  There was no sender listed but the subject line showed “Hi Barry”.  There were no attachments, so he felt fairly safe clicking on the email.

_Dear Barry,_

_I’ve been wanting to speak with you for a while, but I have been too nervous to approach you.  First, I wanted to congratulate you on winning the Carl David Anderson award.  It was so well deserved, and your research presentation was amazing.  I especially enjoyed your explanation of number theory’s use in quantum chaotic systems.  Your insights were completely thought provoking._

_I’ve been trying to gather the courage to come talk to you for the last couple of months.  I guess I was a little gun shy from my last experience.  I think you’re really funny, and cute and of course brilliant. I often hear your stereo playing in your office, did you know we have the exact same taste in music?  I love Indie Bands also!  Oh my god…I can’t believe I’m writing this.  I’m so embarrassed, you must think I’m crazy or something.  I’m not!  I’m just super nervous right now._

_I’ve never done anything like this before.  But sometimes there is no gain without risk right?  I’m not sure if you are involved with anyone or if you are single.  If you are single, and are interested in meeting me, please come to the physics cafeteria at 3 pm.  I’m wearing a dark blue top.  If you are not interested, please do me a favour and don’t come and peek.  I can die of embarrassment anonymously then!_

_Ok, I better go.  I hope to see you this afternoon._

_P.S.  I’m not some physics groupie that is after you because of your award.  I liked you way before that!_

_P.P.S  Could I sound anymore like a thirteen year old girl?  Ugh!_

Barry leaned back in his chair stunned.  What was going on?  Who was this woman?  She was obviously at the awards dinner since she heard his speech.  If she understood his talk on number theory, she knew math, which was a positive in her favour.  She worked in their building if she could hear music playing from his office.  Who could it be?  He hadn’t noticed any women watching him at any time.  He glanced at the clock.  It was 2:55 pm.  Should he go?  He was curious as hell.  What did the email say after all…there is no gain without risk?

He grabbed his wallet and headed down the hall towards the cafeteria.  His heart was beating so hard, he felt like he could hear it in his ears.  This was the first time a woman had approached him and not the other way around.

He opened the door to the cafeteria.  It was empty except for one table off to the side.  He could see a woman with a dark blue top sitting there with her back turned toward him.  She had dark auburn hair.  Barry slowly walked up to the table.  “Hello?” he said softly.

A woman turned around and smiled at him.   “I’m so happy you came.  Hi Barry” she said softly.

A big smile spread across Barry’s face.

“Hi Alex.”

 

The End.

 

**A/N:  That’s it!  The end of the Kripke Conundrum.  I really hope that you enjoyed it.  I really enjoyed writing this story a lot.  I’m not sure if you noticed, but in Chapter 17, I put a line in about a woman with dark blue eyes watching him give his speech.  Lol…maybe a little too subtle of a sentence, but that was Alex.  I really wanted Barry to find love in this story also.  I found myself growing very fond of him as I wrote this story.  Thank-you so much for all the reviews for the story.  I really enjoyed reading them, and I’d also like to say thank-you to the guest reviewers too.  I wish I could respond to your reviews, but please know I totally appreciate them.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on the story, so if you’ve lurked til now, I’d really love to hear your thoughts.**


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